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Iqbal’s

Pakistan

Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi

Translated by: Syed Arif Rizvi

Published by: Matab Publications, Pakistan

Copyright© 2014

It is not permitted to reprint this book without permission of

MATAB

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Preface

Iqbal’s Pakistan is a comprehensive summary of Allama

Muhammad Iqbal’s visionary journey which led to the creation

of Pakistan. The creation of Pakistan as presented by majority

in history was neither an accidental opportunistic goal of some

political leaders, and neither was it a two nation theory for

separation of Muslims from the Hindu majority of India.

Pakistan was made with a vision, and this vision was presented

and the picture of Pakistan was created by none other than the

Late Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

Iqbal was a philosopher, thinker and a visionary born in Sialkot

on 9th November 1877 and continued his educational journey

in India and Europe which took him through a turbulence that

not only changed his life but also ended up in presentation of

thoughts, which if revived can reform several upcoming

generations, thus granting them salvation from clutches of

various forms of slavery. Iqbal’s vision about Pakistan was

completely different from the Pakistan of today. His thoughts

gave birth to the concept of Pakistan and also became practical

with the creation of Pakistan but the real idea could not bear

its fruits till date. Iqbal in his era also was an unrecognized

personality and even today the real thoughts of Iqbal are not

recognized in the Indian subcontinent. Iqbal changed his

addressees to the Persians and that is where he laid the

foundations of his vision which even the Iranian nation could

not do timely justice to it.

An era in which Indians were under British slavery, and the

Muslims specifically were made to pursue the path of

modernization by following the British under the guidance of

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Sir Syed Ahmed, and this was turning Muslims into slaves. Iqbal

at this junction presented the pure Islamic revolutionary

thoughts to change the course of Muslim thinking and

reminded Muslims of the pure and true Islam as presented and

implemented by the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s).

There is no doubt that the thoughts of Iqbal played a vital role

in laying the foundations of Islamic Revolution in Iran. The top

notch leaders of Islamic Revolution like Imam Khomeini (r.a),

Imam Khamenei (d.a.) and Martyr Muttahhari (r.a) took a lot

from Iqbal specifically his thoughts about reconstruction of a

Muslim Ummah.

The tragedy that usually happens with such great

personalities, also victimized Iqbal and his followers lost the

path which Iqbal presented, the vision of Iqbal got faded and

his mission of creating an Islamic purified Ummah as a

Pakistani nation remained a dream. Iqbal’s thoughts were lost

and he is only being remembered as a poet in Pakistan. But it

is Allah’s promise that he does not waste the efforts of such

thinkers who burn their entire life in pursuit of reformation of

the society. After several decades Pakistan has seen once again

a reviver of the thoughts of Iqbal, who is not just speaking and

presenting the vision of Iqbal but has practically implemented

that vision. He is turning the sparrows into falcons and the

students of Iqbal are getting the status of becoming leaders of

the society as dreamed by Iqbal.

This personality is none other than Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi

whose book is in your hand. After almost eighty years of Iqbal

passing away someone has come up to present the kind of

Pakistan that Iqbal had desired, and what Pakistan we are

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living in at present. Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi has the true and

deep cognizance of Iqbal and has established Iqbal’s vision as

the basis of this mission in Pakistan. He believes and is

practically working on this fact that Pakistan can only get

salvation from the evils it is indulged in today with the vision

of Iqbal. And how is it possible that Allah will not give fruits to

Iqbal’s efforts? How is it possible that Allah will leave the

nation of Iqbal in this distressed state, and not give at least one

more opportunity to this nation to revive itself? Allah has

blessed the Pakistani nation with another Iqbal in this era. This

Iqbal has taken the visionary journey of Iqbal into its practical

phase, and the results of this Iqbal Inshallah will enlighten the

black face of Pakistan witnessed today by the entire world.

This book is a translation of Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi’s lecture

on the same topic. I as a humble servant of Allah has been

blessed with this opportunity to present this work which

presents two realities; one is the vision of Iqbal about Pakistan

and second is the recognition of Iqbal of our era. The destiny

of Pakistan is in the hands of the people of Pakistan, and if this

community turns into an Ummah based on the values

presented by Iqbal derived from religion then success will walk

towards Pakistan. The Iqbal of 20th century created a big

impact on the Iranian nation, and this Iqbal of 21st century;

Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi is creating a much bigger impact on

the entire world with his thoughts, vision and practical

movement.

As Iqbal himself has said I would like to repeat the same in the

current era

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Iqbal ka tarana bang-e-dara hai goya

Hota hai Jaadah paima phir kaarwaan humara

Iqbal’s song is like the caraven bell for sleeping souls

Once again our caravan is setting out for the highway

Iqbal awakend the masses on this time but people did not

recognized him but today the Iqbal of our era has once again

set on the same roadway to give salvation to Pakistan. Now it

is up to the Pakistani nation to recognize this asset given in this

era by Allah (s.w.t) and continue on the path which Iqbal

desired for this nation.

We pray to Allah to bless us with the divine opportunity to

remain sincere to this cause, recognize the divine assets of our

era, support them in all possible ways and make the world

recognize them in their lifetime itself, thereby transforming

them into a beacon of guidance forever.

Syed Arif Rizvi

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This topic is very important and sensitive for everyone whether

from Pakistan or not, but for Pakistan the sensitivity of this

topic is much high. This title “Iqbal’s Pakistan” suits best,

because without a doubt, Pakistan is the intellectual creation

and picture of Iqbal. Though there is a big distance between

the Pakistan of today and the Pakistan of Iqbal, and this

distancing has also happened due to distancing from Iqbal. We

have distanced ourselves from the thinking, vision, picture and

exegesis which Iqbal had for Pakistan. The current Pakistan

does not look beautiful and elegant the way Iqbal’s Pakistan is

beautiful. The crisis and difficulties which Pakistan is going

through right now are without exaggeration due to distancing

from the vision of Iqbal and the solution for these difficulties

and crisis lies in returning towards Iqbal. Though the name of

Iqbal is alive in Pakistan but the thoughts and vision of Iqbal

are buried and forsaken.

Recognition of Iqbal

Iqbal also agreed that he is not a recognized person, and he

would say that even I am not recognized for myself.

Personalities like Iqbal have always been like this, that they are

not recognized in their era, and according to Martyr

Muttahhari at least two hundred years are required to

understand and recognize a personality like Iqbal. This means

several generations should educate and nurture themselves,

prepare themselves and carry out a development and growth

program in thinking so that they can come at par with Iqbal’s

thoughts. The time when Iqbal was painting the picture of

Pakistan and doing its exegesis, the political leadership of that

era was also far away from Iqbal. Today Pakistan is more close

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to the political leadership rather then being close to the

visionary leadership of Pakistan. The distance between the

political and visionary leadership was too vast at that time also.

It is an agreed intellectual fact that those personalities who are

possessors of deep thoughts, have creativity inside them and

the ability Allah (s.w.t) has given them to create thoughts,

path and purpose are beyond the reach of recognition by

everyone unless a condition is met. The condition is that the

one who wants to recognize such personalities should atleast

be close to the thinking horizon of these personalities in

regards to the firmness in sense. This is the reason we hardly

find those who are recognizers of Iqbal because their level of

thinking is far lower than that of Iqbal. Iqbal is on some higher

horizon whereas those who claim to have recognized Iqbal are

on some other horizon. The same issue is there with other

similar personalities like Imam Khomeini (r.a). Today in Iran

and outside Iran this has turned into a crisis whereby the

recognizers of Iran are far away from the level of thinking of

Imam. They are sitting somewhere else and staring at some

other horizon, the way we sit on earth and look at stars

whereby these huge stars seem to us like small twinkling

lamps. The distance between Iqbal and his recognizers are also

of the same extent; Iqbal is in a galaxy whereas they are not

even on ground instead below it hence they see Iqbal as a poet.

Iqbal himself says that person who accuses me of being a poet

is lowly and abased person.

It is well known that Allama presented the concept of Pakistan

in his famous sermon of Allahabad in 1930. Though this

sermon was delivered in Urdu and has been translated in

English also but still it is not accessible to the Urdu speaking

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people1. Iqbal at that time and under the prevailing situations

gave a direction to the political leadership. It’s not that Iqbal

started to think from there, and this thought of Pakistan came

to Iqbal in 1930. Iqbal was the leader of leaders which means

Iqbal was the visionary leader of political leaders. The political

leaders were going in some other direction; the way they are

always perplexed even today and these wandering political

leaders have played a big role in destruction of Pakistan today.

These political leaders were confused and wandering at that

time as well. Iqbal got them out of confusion, astonishment

and gave them a direction and purpose. Iqbal was not just a

visionary creator of Pakistan instead Iqbal says that the

survival of communities lies in creating and establishing a

purpose. Those communities who cannot create a purpose in

this struggling society they get annihilated and they cannot

even preserve their lives of slavery. The storms of

circumstances even destroys their slavery. Hence he gave

them a purpose, a direction towards that purpose and then

after that their efforts got focused and centralized on that

purpose, and even though it was not exactly what Iqbal

wanted but still a Pakistan was made. The Pakistan which was

created at that time and the Pakistan which is now are both

not the Pakistans of Iqbal. The Pakistan of Iqbal is yet to be

created.

There are three axis of my discussion which I will try to briefly

present here and all of them are present in the words of Iqbal.

The first argument in our discussion is about Iqbal’s Pakistan,

that how Iqbal himself reached this vision; what were the

1 See complete English text of Iqbal’s sermon in Annexure

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things that became the cause and basis of Iqbal’s thoughts

about Pakistan? The second argument is about what was that

picture and impression of Pakistan which Iqbal presented. The

third argument is about the causes behind the crisis and chaos

in Pakistan in the words of Iqbal.

Iqbal’s intellectual journey

Iqbal in his educational journey as well as his journey of

thinking and vision went very high. His educational journey

started from a small Quran Madrassah in Sialkot and it reached

completion in Germany. This was the certificational

educational journey of Iqbal whereas the real education

continued its journey even after that. In fact in the words of

Allama himself after this certified educational journey, further

paths of intellect and knowledge opened up for Iqbal. There is

no need to express more about his educational degrees and

certifications because this is present in his biography and has

been written by many Pakistanis and non-Pakistanis. What is

significant is the visionary journey of Iqbal.

Iqbal was not born as a thinker just like many claim, that

people like iqbal are born thinkers and possess certain

thoughts and traits by birth, according to them these kind of

people never change and throughout their lives they only

study to bring proofs and evidences to justify their visions and

thoughts. Iqbal was not a born Allama or thinker instead he

was an ordinary person. At that time the state was One India

and not divided; he was highly impressed by Indian culture and

was completely an Indian. His thoughts, sense and everything

was Indian; and for a very long time till he acquired the skills

of writing poems, which was at a young age, his expressions

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about Indian culture were seen in his poems. He was quite

fond of and lover of Indian culture and civilization. After this

an earthquake took place in Iqbal’s thoughts and specifically

the effects of his childhood thoughts and culture went through

a big turmoil. This is very important to understand because

those who overcome this stage they turn into ideologists and

visionaries. This means whatever they acquired in inheritance,

studied in schools, if it does not undergo an earthquake and a

major change; and a new building does not come into

existence then they do not turn into great personalities and

just remain as followers (Muqallid) of someone else or some

other school of thought. According to Ameerul Momineen’s

(a.s) interpretation, “Hamajun Ra’aa” (flock of sheep);

Muqallid means other think and they just follow and preach

that. Some others think and they just propagate and express

that; others present imaginations and thoughts whereas the

Muqallid only makes efforts to implement those. This is the

group of Muqallid (blind followers) who never undergo any

change in their lives and no turbulence ever comes in their

lives.

This change in thoughts and vision coming inside a person is

sacred but it does not harmonize well with the temperament

of our Seminaries (Hauza-e-Ilmiya).

Our seminary’s (Hauza) temperament is concrete whereby

first everything should be acquired by birth, which in broader

sense means the vision that gets developed first through

cultures then in seminaries, speeches, lectures should be so

concreted and firm that even Moosa cannot shake it. Even if

such people come to seminaries, where a thinker like

Muttahhari, a visionary creator like Allama Tabatabai, an

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exegetist like Jawad Amouli, a logical philosopher like

Ayatullah Misbah also cannot shake this concrete wall. This

turbulence in thoughts is against the temperament of religious

seminaries (Hauza) because everything accepted there should

be concrete with no possibilities of any creative or innovative

thinking. They do not give a second view or a thought to what

they are learning. But many from the seminary and religious

scholars have done this work; the most sacred personality who

is the biggest Ideal and role model; Muqaddas Ardbelli at one

point in his subject of Fiqh (Jurisprudence) said that with all

due to respects to elderly personalities I will do complete fresh

analysis of Jurisprudence; about its logic, reasoning, proofs and

after dong this he developed such firmness in his personality.

You must have listened to the statement regarding a Western

physician which is taught more these days in seminaries

(Hauza) and this is a big threat to Hauza2. The Western

Physician (Thomas Arnold) said that whatever intellectual

inheritance I received from others I will keep that aside and

start to look and assess everything with doubts and suspicion.

He did fresh analysis of existence and recognition of world

2 This is not related to our topic that at present the state of discomfort which has got developed in Iran for which the Supreme Leader and other scholars are all expressing concerns about this. Their concern is that the human sciences that are taught in the Iranian Universities are not based on correct foundations in fact they are all Western thoughts which are taught in Universities and disturbed the religion of university students. The same teachers who were teaching in universities and made this situation have now come to Seminaries are teaching in seminaries and spreading the same thoughts here as well. This is a big calamity and God forbid the seminary (Hauza) should not also became a victim similar to the universities. Then we will have to rub our hands in grief. This matter is something beyond our control but those who are authorities of the seminary they should control this situation from here itself.

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(rather than following the thoughts and works of others).

Those who pass this stage are really intellectuals, but those

whose everything is just blind followership and their faith is so

concrete that nothing can change their thoughts and even

corruption cannot change it. For example they say that so and

so has usurped me, looted me; destroyed me but when asked

who did this; they reply that he was one of our believing

brothers. He was a thief, dacoit, usurper who has looted you

but still he is a believer? His faith after usurping and looting

also did not change and he still remained as a concrete

believer.

This stage of turbulence came in the development of Iqbal’s

thoughts. This is a strange state and to traverse this turbulent

state is very hard and the man’s firmness gets proven in this

stage. If he does not deviate and slip in this state, then even if

we don’t say that he will turn into Iqbal, but he will definitely

reach near Iqbal. This state was so difficult for Iqbal he

abandoned poetry and said that I will not do poetry. Some said

that because he was studying and pressure of studies was high

on him so he left poetry. This was not true in fact it is this

turbulence and storm in thoughts which puts pressure on a

man and Iqbal himself later wishes for the same turbulence in

his community.

Tere Behar ki maujon me Izteraab nahi hai

Khuda Tujhe Kisi Toofan se Aashna kar de

The waves of your sea are not turbulent

May Allah acquaint you with some storm

Iqbal is addressing the youths and specifically the students that

you are a sea but without turbulence.

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The era of turbulence in Iqbal

He then again after a certain interval started his poetry after

seeking permission from his teacher. His poetry reached its

pinnacle when he travelled to the West. He spent the period

of his life from 1905 to 1908 in West; some part in England and

some in Germany. This turbulence was also from that era

which continued for a long time and after this stage of

turbulence the depth and firmness that got developed in

Iqbal’s thoughts started from near the period of 1915 to 1917.

The journey of creating and painting the picture of Pakistan

started from here that is when his thoughts reached stability.

In his own words when he says that dust turned into Elixir,

when an atom turned into a firefly; Iqbal started thinking

about the creation of purpose and objectives in his life (and for

his community). When Allama reached this stage he changed

his tone and language of expression, and moved towards

Persian language. He himself said that Persian is easier to

express at this stage. The stage where he was at before, Urdu

was highly suitable to express those things but after passing

through this turbulent stage where depth got developed in his

thoughts he says now Urdu cannot support me in expressing

my thoughts. The absorbing power of Urdu is less as compared

to Persian. He took the support of Persian and got these

thoughts to a certain level of expression. He still continued

with Urdu poetry at the same time and the effects of his

Persian works started to be seen in Urdu poetry as well. The

actual vision about Pakistan has been presented by Allama

Iqbal in Persian language.

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He started the Mathnavi in Persian with the title “Asrar-e-

Khudi” (Secrets of Selfhood) which was the source for

establishment of Pakistan or in other words visionary

foundations of Pakistan. The construction of the building

which started on the foundations of “Asrar-e-Khudi” are

present in his other work “Rumooz-e-Bekhudi” (Mysteries of

Selflessness) and this building completes its construction in

“Javed Naama” (Book of Eternity) which are all Persian works

of Allama whose effects are seen in his Urdu works as well. The

difficulty is that our political leadership from the beginning till

now is getting more and more paralysed and currently is in

such a paralyzed state that they don’t even know from which

letter the word of Politics begins with. As per Late Imam

Khomeini (r.a) those people express views about Islam those

who do not even know whether the word Islam is spelled with

I or E. At present this is the political leadership present, but the

same gap between the political leadership and the Ideological

leadership was present at that time also. Even though Iqbal

was teaching them day and night the Ideological foundations

of a state, but it was beyond their capabilities to grasp it.

Though Iqbal was teaching certain things in Persian as this

language was known to people at that time, but later some

entities came and prohibited Persian language in Pakistan.

They declared this as a useless subject and it got annihilated in

Pakistan and specifically after the outrage of the Salafis and

Takfirists. Our political leadership was empty of vision from the

beginning and they had no knowledge about the visionary

foundations.

Iqbal for Pakistan also in context of a nation has done this

journey. As I said before the first period of Iqbal where he was

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purely an Indian personality with Indian thoughts, culture and

was a fan of these i.e. Iqbal was a nationalist. In his own words

he says that the nationalism of that time was an homeland

nationalism (or geographical). There was a time when he was

busy in nationalism but that was nationalism of land and he

expressed this nationalism with a lot of profoundness and

eloquence as well. Iqbal then moved forward from this stage

of nationalism and after he passed through the turbulent state

of life his nationalism also developed and transformed from

being a geographical nationalism or love of land into the axis

of humanity. The basis of Iqbal’s nationalism was now on the

axis of humanity and became a preacher of nationalism of

humanity. When the actual era of firmness of Iqbal’s thoughts

came and he became a recognizer of pearls and precious

essence, then he came out from the nationalism of humanity

and presented Islamic nationalism. In 1916 or 1917 he started

to gather the visionary foundations of Pakistan and then he

presented his vision about Pakistan in 1930 in the sermon of

Allahabad. The sermon of Allahabad was for the guidance of

Political leadership and it wasn’t like that this vision abruptly

came in the mind of Iqbal and he presented it. Iqbal had

already developed and preached the visionary foundations of

Pakistan much before this sermon. It is an astonishing fact

from 1916 when Iqbal started to present the vision about

Pakistan and before it could spread in India or Persian speaking

countries like Iran it reached Europe and got translated.

I see this is one uniqueness in Allama Iqbal which at least have

not come across in anyone else that the teacher from whom

Iqbal studied that teacher later became an interpreter of

Iqbal’s thoughts. This same teacher became a translator of

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Iqbal’s works and he was the well-known Western thinker

Reynold Nicholson whose books are present here as well. He

was the first one to do the translation of Iqbal’s Mathnavi. This

implies that a teacher became a translator of his student’s

thoughts and later these thoughts got disseminated in other

places and eventually in Urdu also. From Persian to Urdu there

are few direct translations of Iqbal’s works, and most of them

have come from Persian to English or other languages and then

in Urdu.

Visionary Sketch of Iqbal’s Pakistan - Lost

Selfhood

Let me present a visionary sketch of Iqbal’s Pakistan so that it

would become easy for you to understand. As I said before

Iqbal was not after development of a geographical state (which

in his terminology means a nation of “Aab o Gil” (water and

earth)). He first promoted this kind of geographical

nationalism but later himself criticized and condemned it.

Then for some time humanity became the axis of Iqbal and this

was may be due to the effects of existentialism or some other

thoughtful movements which were present in that era which

was full of such turbulences. It was an era when many

revolutions were taking place in different places in the world.

On the other hand specifically when Muslims of India and

Pakistan were stagnant but still the moment Iqbal would see

any movement anywhere in the world, he would observe it

with hope and would again get disheartened when that

movement would fail. At one stage he was very impressed with

Mustafa Kamala Pasha and it happens when there is absolutely

stagnancy everywhere and if a small movement starts

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somewhere, people consider it as a ray of hope. Hence Iqbal

also considered Mustafa Kamal Pasha as someone good for

Muslims but later himself said that this is beyond the reach of

Mustafa Kamal and Raza Shah. Iqbal abandoned the

geographical nationalism and came towards human

nationalism and then abandoned that also and came towards

Islamic nationalism. This is where Iqbal started to pick the

visionary foundations in a calm and stable manner.

Iqbal at this stage saw everything as destitute (Gharib) and

nationless. First he saw himself and realized his own

destituteness, he saw his community, Islam and found

everything as destitute (Gharib) which means without a

nation. It was not just that he found everything only as

destitute but in fact he saw everything as lost. Iqbal saw a

tragedy, calamity and even Muttahhari says that when I was

very young student in Mashhad and at that age when I looked

around with the eyes of sense (Sha’oor) I witnessed a calamity,

catastrophic tragedy and this calamity was the adulterated

religion which shook me. Iqbal also witnessed one more

tragedy which was abandonment, forsakeness, and the lost

realities around him. First Iqbal saw the lost humanity of

human beings which means man himself was lost. The second

thing which he witnessed as lost was the existence of an

Ummah (Islamic nation). The gift which Allah (s.w.t) gave to

humanity through the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s) was lost and not

found at all. The third thing which Iqbal saw as lost and

completely missing was the pure religion that is pure Islam.

Iqbal found that the absence of these three things is the cause

and basis of all the crisis. The reason behind the destruction

and calamities of human beings irrespective of whether they

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are in India, Arab or in any other land is the absence of these

three things.

When Iqbal realized that these things are lost then he did not

start to mourn, cry or complain which is what typically we do.

If these things are absent there then there should be a pursuit

and hunt for these things. These three things; Man, Ummah

and religion which were lost were realized by Iqbal and

immediately he expressed it. There is an ode of Iqbal in Baang-

e-Dara (Caravan Bell)

Ay Baade Saba Jaake Kahiyao Paigaam mera Kamli waale se

Kabze se bechaari Ummat ke Deen bhi gaya, dunya bhi gayee

O the morning breeze! Pass my message to the cloaked one

This helpless Ummah has lost both their world and religion

Iqbal says give my message to the leader of this Ummah (Holy

Prophet (s.a.w.s) that an astonishing tragedy has taken place

with this Ummah that it has lost the world and the religion.

This Ummah has lost everything and now we have to find it.

This is the privilege of Iqbal. Iqbal was not just the leader of the

Indian Muslim politicians instead he was the host of new

Islamic thoughts in the world. Today the big pillars of Iran feel

proud to be students of Iqbal. Dr Shariati was a person who did

not respect anyone, he was a wild person but in front of Iqbal

he stood in respect as an obedient student. He himself says if I

have taken something then it is all from Iqbal but he did not

present correctly what he took from Iqbal. The one person

who is a proof (Hujjat) upon us; that is the Supreme leader

Ayatullah Khamenei (d.a) who gave the title as “Star of East”

to Iqbal says that I am myself a disciple of Iqbal and I complain

to Iranian nation that why they have delayed in coming

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towards Iqbal. He intends to say that when Iqbal delivered his

message to Iranians which was in the beginning of the Pahlavi

regime; the Iranian nation should have accepted that message

but they came late towards Iqbal. Iqbal is a visionary leader for

many and those who are just and truthful they admit, but

Pakistanis are still arguing whether he was a Muslim or not.

Iqbal exerted all his energy, intellect, knowledge and wisdom

in pursuit of three precious gems and he found all of them. The

first precious gem which he found was in “Secrets of Selfhood

(Asrar-e-Khudi)” which means self-identity. There is a religious

seminary discussion about self-identity whereby what we term

as identity, Iqbal calls it as selfhood. He presented this

discussion in such a beautiful and easy manner that the same

discussion which we study in philosophical sciences seems too

hard for us, but when you see Iqbal speaking about this it is

very simple, provided you understand this language. He first

presented a philosophical argument about selfhood that

everything is established on its self-essence, and the entire

universe is the manifestation of the essence of Allah. These are

all manifestations of the selfhood of Allah which means when

the selfhood of Allah became fervent only then all other

realities came into existence. Then Allah gave a selfhood and

identity to every creation and amongst which Allah gave

selfhood and identity to the man also, which unfortunately he

lost. The only creation for whom selfhood is acquirable is the

man which means he can acquire his selfhood or lose it at will.

The other creations when they get an identity it remains

preserved with them forever but for a man he can lose his

identity, and Iqbal presented this fact as the Philosophy of

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Selfhood in “Secrets of Selfhood (Asrar-e-Khudi)” which is the

first foundation.

Visionary sketch of Iqbal’s Pakistan – Lost

Ummah

The second is the identity of a lost Ummah which he found;

which means selfhood of an Ummah. He used different terms

like nation, community, Ummah but the intention was the

same vision of Ummah which Quran has presented. Then the

third thing where Iqbal reached and combined with these two

other ideas, made the ground and the visionary foundation for

Pakistan, was a pure religion (Deen-e-Naab). When someone

analyzes Iqbal’s vision of Pakistan the same story of Quran

comes in front which was two thousand years ago. That story

of Quran is about the state of human beings which was present

two thousand years before in Mecca, Iqbal was witnessing the

same state of human beings in his own era across the world.

When a person aroused by Allah is sent for the guidance of

humanity then by just teaching few rituals, the humanity does

not become guided. This is because the thing lost by humanity

are not just few religious rites, practices, permitted (Halal) and

forbidden (Haram). These are secondary issues which become

important only after find the right path. A misguided being is

the one who has lost his way and you are teaching Halal and

Haram laws to the one who has lost his way? The one who has

lost his purpose, his path, his guidance is not that you teach

him few rites. This was not the difficulty of a man; neither in

this era nor before. When in past also man became a victim of

this difficulty at that time Allah aroused a great person whose

name Quran itself mentioned as Ibrahim. Ibrahim, the friend

24 | P a g e

of Allah and the one who guided humanity. All those things

which humanity had lost Ibrahim granted it back to them.

What did Ibrahim demand from Allah after this? First Ibrahim

found the lost human being; he found the selfhood of man

from the adulterated human being. Then those who had lost

their social identity and turned into herds, communities,

tribes; for them Ibrahim found their identity of Ummah. Then

Ibrahim demanded from Allah to make Imams (leaders) of the

Ummah from his progeny.

Ibrahim got back the lost assets of the Ummah to them but a

strange tragedy happened in the progeny of Ibrahim; the same

that happened with the inheritors of Iqbal also. This tragedy

was that Ibrahim found this precious asset and gave it to the

Ummah but then in his progeny Bani Israel were born. Bani

Israel were stubborn, lazy, traders of religion, distorters of

religion, disobedient and assassinators of Prophets which are

the titles given by Quran to them. The asset of Ibrahim was lost

by the progeny of Ibrahim and Quran sternly cursed them for

this. For forty years Bani Israel were wandering around but

were not willing to submit and obey the Prophets. They lost

the precious gem of humanity by becoming slaves of Pharaoh

which was the era of arrogance in which they developed the

attitude and psychology of being slaves. Then they dissolved

their identity of being an Ummah and turned into tribes. The

twelve tribes of Bani Israel are well known to this extent that

when Moosa had to present a miracle he had to do twelve

miracles because none of the tribes were willing to accept the

other. Pharaoh is coming after them; Moosa has split the river

making a way for them to escape but they were saying make

twelve ways for us; one tribe is not willing to go by the way

25 | P a g e

from which the other is going and all these twelve tribes were

brothers. Moosa had to make twelve ways for their tribalism;

then they were thirsty and Moosa had to make twelve water

wells for them; then when it came to entering a city Moosa had

to make twelve doors for them.

We can see how easily the progeny of Ibrahim lost this

precious asset. Iqbal went in pursuit of these three gems and

it is not easy to acquire these gems; the one who goes in

pursuit of these can only know this. Iqbal himself says:

Jahan baani se hai dushwar tar kaare Jahanbeeni

Jigar khoon ho to hoti hai Nazar paida

Recognizing the world is more difficulty then possessing it

Heart bleeds then only a vision get developed

A person becomes visionary about the world and the society

only after his heart bleeds. A recognizer of existential facts of

universe is only who returns these lost assets back to

humanity. The progeny of Ibrahim turned into traitors,

transgressors and assassinators of prophets but progeny of

Iqbal turned out to be worst then Bani Israel. The Bani Israel

lost the assets of Ibrahim; turning into traitors, assassinators

and got divided into tribes. Today the Pakistan which is present

is the Pakistan of Bani Israel and not that of Iqbal. After the

losing the assets of Iqbal now they are sitting to loot and sell

it. This loss and wandering of Pakistani nation is because of

losing and distancing from the assets of Iqbal.

26 | P a g e

Iqbal, Nationalism and Vision of Pakistan

Iqbal’s concept of nation (nationalism) is derived from these

three things. Iqbal himself says that there are three types of

nations; one is political (geographical) nation, one is communal

nation and one is Islamic or Quranic nation. The political

concept of a nation is known to those who study political

sciences or are acquainted with it. It means a part of land

where people with common interests have gathered and

everyone’s interests are associated with that land. In other

words those people who are associated with each other on the

basis of a piece of land; whereby this land becomes their

nation and they are nationalist of this land. This is the political

introduction of a nation.

The introduction of nation in religion is different. It means the

place where human values are governing the society; where an

Ummah is living and the land is only the means where the

religion and constitution of Allah is implemented. This is the

definition of nation in Quranic and Islamic terminology. The

Pakistan of Iqbal is where these three things are present; the

selfhood of a man, the selfhood of an Ummah and selfhood of

Islam. Wherever these three things are present it is the

Pakistan of Iqbal. One common statement is said about

Pakistan that Pakistan is the outcome of two community’s

visions. This means there were two communities in India; one

was the Hindu majority community and the Muslim

community which were minority. This is true for the political

leadership of Pakistan who till date believe that Pakistan was

created to get salvation for Muslims from Hindus. This is the

essence of this two community vision whereby the Muslim

27 | P a g e

community should get separated from Hindu community. But

the Pakistan of Iqbal is not the vision of getting salvation from

Hindu community instead it is the vision of getting salvation

from many things.

In the Pakistan of Iqbal salvation is required from what other

things? Since the identity of Ummah needs to be acquired

which means for an Islamic identity you have to leave many

things. It is a philosophical argument related to identity which

means to get precise recognition of something by separating it

from other things with which it is mixed and hence lost its own

recognition and identity. To get recognized means to acquire

privileges and getting privileged from others. There are certain

things which destroys the identity and recognition and it is

essential to disassociate and distance from them.

1. Distancing from Western culture and civilization is the

foremost disassociation which Iqbal has emphasized

upon.

2. Distancing from the traditional Islam and not just

distancing from Hindu, but in fact disassociating from

the traditional Islam of slavery. In the view of Iqbal

there is no difference between traditional Islam and

Hinduism. Till the time you cannot leave both you will

not be able to develop the identity of an Ummah.

3. Distancing from Materialism

4. Distancing from stagnancy and stillness

5. Distancing from slavery

28 | P a g e

6. Distancing from disgrace and humiliation

7. Distancing from Secularism. Iqbal in his own words has

severely criticized secularism; which means separation

of religion and politics which even today is the religion

of Muslims in Pakistan.

8. Distancing from tyranny, oppression and barbarism

9. Distancing from isolation from the world for the sake

of religious worship (Sufism)

10. Distancing from feudalism

11. Distancing from lordship and hegemony

12. Distancing from capitalism

If I summarize then distancing from all the calamities in which

Pakistan is engulfed today is the vision of Iqbal of Pakistan.

Let me present some evidences on the summarized sketch of

Iqbal’s development which I presented to you. The vision

which Iqbal presented about Pakistan and gave a title to what

this nation will turn into. The title which he gave to this

visionary nation was “Lalazaar” (Garden of Tulips). Today’s

Pakistan is not a garden of Tulips instead it is the garden of

thorns. Iqbal gave this name on the basis of his visionary

thoughts. “Lalah” (Tulip) carries a special meaning in the

terminology of Iqbal. “Lalah” (Tulip) means an Ummah. An

29 | P a g e

awakened Ummah, a sacrificing Ummah, a crusading Ummah,

an Ummah nurturing martyrs and an Ummah seeking

martyrdom is the “Lalah” (Tulip) of Iqbal. The flower of Tulip is

a symbol of crusading, awakened, firm, aroused, sacrificing

Ummah which is in pursuit of martyrdom. The nation of Iqbal

is the garden in which these Tulips are present.

The Indian cultural and nationalist Iqbal

At that time when Iqbal was also a believer in the nationalism

of land which in other words we can say Indian Iqbal; who’s

religion, faith and everything was Indian which means cultural

and customary. There are many odes which Iqbal has from that

period amongst this is the first one in “Baang-e-Dara” (Caravan

Bell) about Himalaya. In this ode he says.

Ai Himaala! Ai faasil-e-kishwar-e-Hindostaan!

Choomta hai teri peshaani ko jhuk kar aasmaan

O Himalaya! O you bulwark of Indian Fortress

Sky is blowing low for your forehead to caress

Tujh mein kuch paidaa nahin dereena rozi ke nishaan

Tu jawaan hai gardish-e-shaam-o-sehar ke darmiyaan

In you no signs are apparent of ageing or duress

you are youthful ever in the midst of time’s press

Ek jalwaa thaa kaleem-e-toor-e-Seena ke liye

Tu tajjali hai saraapaa chasm-e-beena ke liye

For Moses, Mount of Tur was a sight to unfold

for others you are awesome, a sight to behold

30 | P a g e

This was just a sample presented and then after this the

worship of homeland (nationalism) which was seen in Iqbal’s

words were seen in several places and even his longings and

desires were very dusty like children seeking for small things.

He would say

Dunya ki Mehfil se Uqta Gaya hoo ya Rabb

Kya Lutf Anjuman ka jab dil hi bujh Gaya ho

O Lord! I am tired with the gatherings of this world

what pleasure I can get from twinkling stars when my heart

has gone dead

Shurish se bhaagta hoo mai, Dil dhoondhta hai meraa

ek aisa sukoot jis par taqreer bhi fada ho

I am running away from chaos, my heart is in pursuit

of a silence which no speech can break

Marta hoon khamoshi par ye aarzoo hai meri

I would die for such a silence, stillness which is my desire

This was his desire in that early period of his life that I should

get into isolation, where there is a forest, spring, smoking and

gathering.

Damane Kooh me ek chota sa jhonpdha ho

Azad fikr si ho, uzlat me din guzaaroo

A small hut in the laps of a mountain

with free thoughts, relaxed I should spend my day

Dunya ke gham ka dil se kaanta nikal gaya ho

31 | P a g e

The thorn of sorrows of the world would have come out from

my heart

This was the Iqbal who is asking Allah to remove the pains of

this world from his heart but the same Iqbal later is asking

Allah to make his heart a hub for the pains and sorrows of the

world.

Lazzat Surood ki ho, chidyon ki chahchaho me

Chashmo ki shurisho me baaja sa baj raha ho

The chirping of sparrows would give me pleasures of songs

a bugle playing from the voices of waterfalls and springs

Gul ki kali chitak kar paigam de Kisi ka

Sagar zara sa goya mujhko Jaanama ho

The cracking of flower stem delivers a message from

someone

a little ocean I see would feel like a world to me

WO haath ka ho sarahna, Sabzay ka ho bichauna

Sharmaye jis sey Jalwat, Khalwat me WO ada ho

That pillow of hand and bed of greenery

which is ashamed of manifestation and come up in isolation

This is the poet of materialism and is an Indian poet who

desires a garden, beach where he can walk in short pants. The

same Iqbal later will say that the weakness and deficiency of

Indian poets is that though they are poets but they have been

deprived of sense (Sha’oor). Iqbal has later prayed for the

Indian poets that they should also be blessed with the same

gift which Allah has granted him.

32 | P a g e

There is one more poem he has written for India which was

song recited in India for long time, which was a national song

for Indian children. You can see the homeland nationalism of

Iqbal in that period from here.

Chisti ne jis Zamin me paigam-e-haq sunaya

Nanak ne jis chaman me Wahdat ka geet Gaya

Tatarion ne jisko apna watan banaya

Jisne Hijazion se dasht-e-Arab chudaya

Mera watan wohi hai, mera watan wohi hai

This is the land where Chisti preached the message of truth

Where Nanak sang the song of Unity of God

Where the Tatars made their home

and enabled the people of Hijaz to leave the desserts of

Arabia

this is my same homeland, this is my same homeland

Unanion ko jisne hairan kar diya tha

saare jahan ko jisne ilm-o-hunar diya tha

Mitti ko jiski haq ne zar ka asar diya tha

Turkon ka jisne daaman heeron se bhar diya tha

Mera watan wohi hai, Mera watan wohi hai

This country surprised the Greeks

and gave the knowledge to the whole world

God made its soil as rich as diamonds

and it gave to the word priceless treasures

This is my same homeland, this is my same homeland

Toote the Jo sitaare faaris ke aasman se

Phir Taab de ke jisne chamkaye kahkashan se

Wahdat ki laey suni thee dunya ne jis makaan se

33 | P a g e

Meer-e-Arab KO aayee Thandi hawa jahan se

Mera watan wohi hai, Mera watan wohi hai

The stars that had fallen from the sky of Persia

Which illuminated and established in the Milky Way again

the house from which the world heard the tune of

monotheism

from where the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s) felt the cool breeze

the same is my homeland, the same is my homeland

Bande Kaleem jis ke, parwat hain jis ki sina

noahaye nabi ka aakar thahra jahan safeena

Rafat hai jis zameen ki, baame falak tha zeena

Jannat ki zindagi hai jis ki fiza me jeena

Mera watan wohi hai, Mera watan wohi hai

Whose residents are Moosa, whose mountains are Sina

The place where the ark of Prophet Noah landed

The land whose elegance is the stairway to the sky

Living in whose environment is like living in Paradise

The same is my homeland, the same is my homeland

In his poem “Naya Shivala” Iqbal is seen worshipping his

homeland.

Sach kah Doon aye Brahman! Gar tu Buraa na maaney

Tere sanam kadon ke buth hho gaye purane

Apno se bair rakhna tune buthon se seekha

Jang-o-Jadal sikhaya waez ko bhi khuda ne

Tang aa ke maine aakhir da-er-o-Haram ko chora

Waez ka waaz choraa, chorhe tere fasaane

34 | P a g e

O Brahman! Should I speak the truth if you don't mind?

The idols of your temples have gone antiquated.

You've learnt, from the idols, to harbor animosity towards

our own people;

the God too has taught his preacher the ways of violence and

war.

Having got fed-up I left temple as well as mosque;

[I] left attending the lecture of the preacher as well as your

fictions.

Iqbal refers to preachers over here as the ones who are always

fighting and creating disputes in the name of religion. He says

I got so frustrated that I left all religions and then I came

towards homeland.

Patthar ki moorato me samjha hai tu khuda hai

Khaake Watan ka mujh ko har zarra devta hai

Aa Gairiyat ke parde ik baar phir utha de

Bichdon ko phir mila de , naqshe-e-dui mita de

You think that God resides in the stone idols

Each speck of the motherland is God to me.

Come, let's, once again, remove the curtains of

unacquaintedness;

let's help the separated beings meet again [and] remove the

motif of duality.

Iqbal says that you are considering the idols of stones as God

whereas I worship every particle of this land. This is the peak

of homeland nationalism.

Sooni padi hai Muddat se Dil ki Basti

Aa, ik nayaa shiwaali is desh me bana dein

35 | P a g e

Dunya ke teerthon se ooncha ho apnaa teerth

Har subh utth ke gaaye mantar wo meethe meethe

Saare pujariyon ko mai preet ki pila de

Shakti bhi Shaanti bhi bhakto ke geet me hai

Dharti ke baasiyon ki mukti preet me hai

The territory of heart is empty for a long time.

Come, let's make a new shrine in this land.

Our shrine should be taller than all the shrines of the world!

We should make its spire touch the edge of the sky.

We should sing, each morning, the amiable hymns

make all the worshippers drink the wine of love!

power and peace are implied in the songs of the disciples.

The salvation of the people of the world lies in love!

You can see how severe the homeland nationalism and

worship of nationalism is present in Iqbal’s words. The nation

which Iqbal was worshipping in 1905 today Pakistanis have

reached that homeland.

From homeland worship to Ummah

And then a revolution comes in Iqbal’s thoughts and he enters

the era of turbulent thoughts whereby gradually he declares

that homeland is not a nation at all and it is an error to consider

your geographical homeland as nation. In his collection of

Ghazaliat (Odes) in the second ode he says.

Ilahi Aqle Khujistapay ko zara si deewangi seekha de

Ise hai sauda e Bakhyakaari mujhe sare pirahan nahi hai

36 | P a g e

O Allah! Teach a little craziness of love to my happy intellect

it has a trading mentality whereas I do not possess a collar for

my shirt

Mila Mohabbat ka soz mujhko to bole subhe azal farishte

Misaale Shamma-e-mazaar hai tu, Teri koi anjuman nahi hai

When I got the fire of love, the angels of dawn told me

you are like only a candle on grave and do not have a galaxy

of stars

Yaha Kaha hum nafas muyassar, ye desh Na aashna hai ay dil

WO cheez tu maangta hai mujhse ke zere charke kohan nahi

hai

Where can I find here people like me (my thoughts), O heart!

This country is unacquainted

you are asking for something which cannot be found even

under the wheels of history

Niraala saare jahan se isko Arab ke memaar ne banaya

Bina humaare hisaare millat ki ittehaad e Watan nahi hai

The “Architect of Arab” has made it unique

there is nothing like uniting on a homeland, without

becoming an Ummah

Now see how in past Iqbal was telling the Brahman and

preachers to leave aside all disputes and let us unite and

worship our homeland. And now He says that the foundations

which have been laid by the “Architect of Arab” means the

Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) are very unique and that is the Ummah

and not the homeland.

37 | P a g e

Kahan ka aana, Kahan ka jaana fareb hai imtiaz e Uqba

Numood humaari har shay me hai kahi humara watan nahi

hai

From where to come and where to go, are all deceptions of

end

Existence is present in everything and there is nothing like

homeland

Mudeere Maqzan se koi humara Iqbal payam jaake kah de

Jo kaam kuch kar rahi hai kaume unhe mazaqe sukhan nahi

hai

Someone go and deliver the message of Iqbal to the manager

of the world

Certain activities which communities are doing are tasteless

Then after this the words of Iqbal become harder, and stern

and now he is distancing and separating from the same

homeland which he was worshipping before. In his Anthem of

Nations (Tarana-e-Milli) he says that our nation is not

homeland and presents a nation on the basis of humanity; still

here also he has not yet come towards the Islamic nation in its

true Quranic essence.

Cheen-o-Arab hamara, Hindustan hamara,

Muslim hain hum watan hai Sara Jahaan humara

China is ours, Arabia is ours, India is ours

the whole world belongs to us, and we are the followers of

Islam

Tauheed ki amanat seeno me hai humaare,

Aasan nahi mitaana naam-o-nishaan humaara

38 | P a g e

We hold the tenet of Monotheism as a trust in our hearts

It is not easy to erase our name from the face of earth

Dunya ke buthkadon me pahla WO ghar khuda ka

Hum uske paasbaan hai, WO paasbaan humara

The first home of God amidst the idol-worshipping shrines

we are its sentinels, and it protects us (mind and heart)

Now the same worshipper of homeland has turned into a

worship of sanctities of Allah.

Teghon ke saaye me hum pal kar jawaan hue hai

Khanjar hilal ka hai kaumi nishaan humara

We have grown young beneath the shadow of swords

the crescent moon like a sharp and cold dagger is our

national symbol

Maghrib ki waadiyon me Gounji Azaan humaari

Thamta Na tha Kisi se sail-e-rawaan humara

Our prayer calls echoed in the valleys of the West

No one could block the flow of our flood

Baatil se dabne waale, ai aasman nahi hum

Sau baar kar chukka hai tou imtehaan humara

We cannot be suppressed by the threats of falsehood

O heaven! You have tested us many times before

Ay Gulsitaan-e-Undlus WO din hai yaad tujh KO

Tha Teri daaliyon par jab Aashiyaan humara

O the gardens of Andalusia do you remember those days

when our nest was on your trees

39 | P a g e

Ai Mauje Dajla tu hi pehchanti hai hum ko

Ab taq hai tera darya Afsaana khwaan humara

O the waves of Tigris do you recognise us

till now your river is our story-teller

Ay, arz-e-pak Teri hurmat pe kat mare hum

Hai khoon Teri ragon me ab taq rawaan humara

O land of purity! We have been cut and died many times for

your sanctity

it is our heroic blood that runs even now in your veins

Salaar-e-Karwaan hai Meer-e-Hijaz Apna

iss naam se hai baaqi aaraam-e-jaan humara

We are guided and led by the Prophet of Hijaz

from him we derive peace and strength of heart

Iqbal ka tarana bang-e-dara hai goya

Hota hai Jaadah paima phir kaarwaan humara

Iqbal’s song is like the caraven bell for sleeping souls

Once again our caravan is setting out for the highway

Baang-e-Dara is the caravan bell which the guide of the

Caravan rings to awaken the people of caravan who were tired

and sleeping.

In this ode there is clarity from Iqbal that political nationalism

is not acceptable. There is one more poem in Baang-e-Dara

from Iqbal where he talks about homeland as a political

concept by the title “Wataniyat” (homeland). We have to

remember that these are just expressions of Iqbal whereas the

actual visionary foundations are present in his Persian works.

40 | P a g e

Is daur me Mai aur hai, Jaam aur hai, Jam aur hai

Saaqi ne bina ki Lutf o Sitam aur

In this age the wine, the cup, even Jam3 is different

the cup bearer started different ways of grace and tyranny

In this era the wine, the cup and the gathering are all

unassociated, there is no balance between anything. For

instance the mosque is of Muslims made by some Haji, the

Salaat is of someone else and Imam of Salaat is from America.

Then the ways and methods of grace and tyranny have also

changed; the civilization has also changed its way and the form

of tyranny and oppression has also changed. So why should the

Muslims not change their ways? This is what he continues to

say

Muslim ne bhi tameer kiya apna harram aur

Tahzeeb ke Aazar4 ne Tarashwaye naye sanam aur

The Muslim also constructed a different Haram of his own

The Aazar 2 of civilization made different idols of his own

If everything has changed then why should not the Muslims

have their own self carved religion? The idolators like Aazar

who used to make idols of wood, and stone have also changed

and made different idols in this civilization. The biggest idol

amongst these is homeland. The new civilization has made

many Gods; somewhere parties, communities, organizations,

personalities, infrastructure have been turned into Gods which

3 “Jam”: This is the name of a Persian king who is reputed to have a

wine cup in which he could see the whole world 4 “Aazar”: He was the caretaker of Prophet Ibrahim (a.s) and is

famous as a sculptor of idols.

41 | P a g e

people have made. Iqbal says amongst these Gods the biggest

one is homeland (nationalism).

In taza Khudaon me sabse bada watan hai

Jo peerahan iska hai woh mazhab ka kafan hai

Amongst these new gods the biggest one is homeland

And its shirt, is the shroud of the Religion

The attire of homeland (nationalism) is the shroud under

which Religion is buried.

Ye buth ke tarasheeda tahzeeb e nawi hai

Gaarat gar kaashanaye Deen e Nabawi hai

This idol which is the product of the new civilization

is the plunderer of the structure of the Holy Prophet’s religion

Iqbal has told this also from where this new idol of homeland

and nationalism has come up. He talks about this in other

places about Michaulism which brought this.

Baazoo tera Tauheed ki Kuwwat se Kavi hai

Islam Tera Desh hai, To Mustafawi hai

Your arm is enforced with the strength of the Divine Unity

you are the followers of Mustafa, your country is Islam

Nazaraye derina Zamaane ko Dikha de

Ay Mustafawi! Khaak me Is buth ko Mila de

You should show the old panorama to the world

O Mustafa’s follower! You should destroy this idol

42 | P a g e

Now Iqbal is telling; O the followers of Mustafa present the

same old scene and destroy this idol of homeland worship. This

is Iqbal the one who presented the picture of Pakistan.

Ho qaid ke maqami to nateeja hai tabaahi

Rah bahar me aazad watan soorate Maahi

The limitation to country results in destruction

Live like the fish in the ocean, free from country

Iqbal says that if you are captive of a local country, homeland

and become nationalist then this is your destruction. You

should live free like a fish in the ocean

Hai Tarqe Watan Sunnat e Mahboob e Ilahi

De tu bhi Nabuwat ki sadaqat pe gawahi

Renouncing the country is the way of the God’s Beloved

You should also testify to the Prophethood’s Truth by similar

action

Guftar Siyasat me Watan aur hi kuch hai

Irshad e Nabuwat me Watan aur hi kuch hai

In political parlance homeland is something else

In Prophet’s command homeland is something different

Aqwaame Jahan me hai raqabat to isi se

Taskheer hai maqsood e Tejarat to isi se

The antagonism among world’s nations is created by this

alone

Subjugation as the goal of commerce is created by this alone

43 | P a g e

Khaali hai sadaqat se siyasat to isi se

Kamzor ka ghar hota hai gaarat to isi se

Politics have become bereft of sincerity is by this alone the destruction of the home of the weak is by this alone

Aqwaam me Makhlooq Khuda banti hai isse Kaumiyate Islam ki Jad’ein kat ti hai isse

in the nations the creation becomes the creator by it The Islamic concept of nationality is uprooted by it

Today why are we not turning into an Ummah because

someone is Irani, Afghani or Pakistani

In the odes of Shikwa (complaint) and Jawaab-e-Shikwa

(answer to complaint) also these points could be seen but we

believe this is enough evidence, and from here forward I will

present some other related important points.

Glimplses of foundations of Iqbal’s Pakistan in

his Urdu works

Let us see now the foundations of Iqbal’s Pakistan. There is a

poem by the title “Mazhab” (Religion)

Apni Millat par Qayas Aqwaame Maghrib sa na kar

Khaas hai Tarqeeb me Kaum e Rasool-e-Hashmi

Judge not your nation on the criteria of Western nations

Special in composition is the Hashmi Messenger’s nation

44 | P a g e

Do not compare the Islamic nation with West and

unfortunately this is something which we have done; today we

are fully attentive to this and compare ourselves with West

which has caused a lot of destruction already. The human

sciences of West which has today shook the roots of Islamic of

Revolution in Iran, about this Iqbal is saying ninety years ago

that the nationalism of West has some other foundations,

whereas the concept of nation and nationalism (Wataniyat) in

Islam is about something else. The composition of the Holy

Prophet’s (s.a.w.s) nation is different which cannot be

understood by those who have gone to the West and studied

the Western philosophies.

Inki Jamea’at ka Mulq aur Nasab par hai Inhasaar

Kuwwate Mazhab se Mustahkam hai Jameeat Teri

Based on country and race is their organization

the strength (force) of the religion stabilizes your organization

Daaman-e-deen haath se chuta to Jameat kahaan

Aur Jameat Hui rukhsat to Millat bhi gayee

If the skirt of the religion is lost, then organization also

disappears

If organization departs then nation also disappears

When you lose the religion then everything is gone. This is the

fundamental problem of Pakistan which is experienced by this

country today. In one of his other poems he expresses this

couplet

Nasl, Qaumiyat, Kalisa, Saltanat, Tahzeeb, Rang

Khwaja ne khoob chun chun kar banaye muskirat

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Race, Community, Church, State, Civilization, Color of skin

what wonderful intoxicants Capitalism has selected for you

Kat Mara naadan Khayali devtaaon ke liye

Sukr ki lazzat me tu Lutwa Gaya hayaat

You got yourself killed for the sake of these imaginary Gods

you lost your life in the pleasure of these intoxicants

Now Iqbal is saying that if you want to build a true nation

(Islamic basis) then whatever is existing in the name of the

nation needs to be destroyed. The way Iqbal’s sensitivity was

towards Hindu culture that it was devastating for Muslims the

same sensitivity was towards the customary and traditional

Islamic culture prevailing within Muslims. The customary

religion of seclusion, the religion of courtyards of kings, and

the religion of emperors which was prevailing in India it was

more devastating for Muslims then the Hindu culture. Iqbal

says

Guft Rumi Harbe Naaye Koh ne ke Aabad kunan

Mi Na danaid Awwal an bunyaad ra veeran kunan

Maulana Rumi has preached that if you want to lay the

foundation of something new then first you have to eradicate

the existing foundations. If you want to construct a new

building somewhere where there is an existing building then

first you have to bring the old building down, create an empty

plot and then start to construct a new building there. We

despite of being living in the same state of secularism,

feudalism, capitalism, worshipping of sages and similar type of

filths, are desiring to change Pakistan to the Pakistan of Iqbal.

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If you want to change the Pakistan then first throw these ruins

of evils and the existing system out.

Iqbal in Tuloo-e-Islam as well has expressed the same very

clearly. In one more place Iqbal says

Maqtabo me kahin raanaiye Afkaar bhi hai?

Khankaho me kahin lazzate Asrar bhi hai

Do the schools anywhere have thoughts as well?

Do the secluded places of worships have the secrets of

worship as well?

Schools have education but do they have impartation of

thoughts anywhere as well is a question raised by Iqbal. People

are sitting secluded in places of worships (like Sufis) and busy

in recitations but there is no soul or hidden mysteries of

worship seen anywhere.

Manzile rah rawaan door bhi hai dushwaar bhi hai

Koi is Kaafila me Kaafila Salaar bhi hai

Destination is far and difficult to reach as well

in this Caravan is there any leader of the Caravan as well?

Badhke Khyber se hai ye maarqa’e Deen o watan

is Zamane me Koi Haidar-e-Karaar bhi hai?

This encounter of religion and nationalism (homeland) is

bigger then Khyber

is there any Haidar-e-Karaar (Ali as valorous warrior) in this

era as well?

The encounter of Khyber was between the Jews and Muslims

which was a big obstacle in the path of Muslims. When this

47 | P a g e

obstacle of Jews was removed from the path of Holy Prophet

(s.a.w.s) Islam moved forward. Iqbal says the same obstacle of

Jews which was present at that time is present now as well.

Ilm ki hadd sipar hai banda e momin ke liye

Lazzat-e-shauq bhi hai ne’mate deedar bhi hai

The limits of science a shield for faithful

but there is a pleasure and bliss in love and sight of God

Peere Mai’khana ye kahta hai ke Aiwaane farang

Sust bunyaad bhi hai aa’ina e deewar bhi hai

The chief of tavern thinks that West has made palaces

but their foundations are shaking, walls are just glazing

Now pay attention to Iqbal, that he was preaching what was

prevailing at that time. In his ode by the title “Husayn Ahmad”

in Armaghan-e-Hijaz which refers to Shaikh Husayn Ahmad

Madani who was a teacher of Deoband at the time of Iqbal. He

delivered a speech either in Deoband or somewhere else and

this being a religious scholar Husayn Ahmad says;

Ajam Hanooz Na danad Rumooz e deen, warna

Za deoband Husain Ahmad! Aen che bu-ul Ajabi ist

Ajamites have not yet understood the code of our religion

Otherwise Husain Ahmad Deoband! What is this

foolhardiness?

These Shaikh-ul-Islam’s have not understood the code and soul

of religion yet, else this Sheikh Husayn Ahmad who belongs to

Deoband would not have said this foolish thing.

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Sarood bar sare mimbar ke millat az watan ast

Che bekhabar Za maqaam e Mohammad (s.a.w) Arabi ist

A sermon sung from the pulpit that Ummah is from homeland

worship (Wataniyat)

From the real position of the Arabian Prophet (s.a.w.s), How

sadly unaware is he!

Ba Mustafa (s.a.w.s) barsaan Kheesh ra ke deen hama ost

Agar Bah O Ner Sayyadi, Tamam Bu-Lahabi Ast

You merge with Mustafa (s.a.w.s) for entire religion embodies

in Him!

If you do not reach up to Him, It is all Bu Lahab’s idolatory!

Iqbal says make yourself reach Mustafa (s.a.w.s) because

entire religion is with him, and if you have not reached Mustafa

(s.a.w.s) then everything else is Abu Lahab’s idol worships. You

can assess from here that Iqbal never presented a two nation

vision for India and Pakistan. The thing by which Iqbal was

worried was this Abu Lahab character of Idol worshipping

which was spread in the name of Islam. It was not just

separation from Hindus but to separate from Abu Lahab’s

religion, which has become the entire religion of Pakistan

today.

Ignition of fire inside Iqbal

As I said before that the actual vision of Pakistan Iqbal has

presented in his Persian works, whereas in Urdu works of his

only some glimpses are seen. Since Persian is not known till

today the actual vision of Iqbal was not presented correctly.

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First in Asrar-e-Khudi (Secrets of Selfhood) Iqbal said that it

was Maulana Rumi who ignited the fire inside me, and I was

able to find my inner self. Then in “Rumooz-e-Khudi”

(Mysteries of selfhood) the actual foundation work for an

Ummah starts.

He begins his Mathnavi with the prose of Maulan Rumi which

shows Iqbal’s pursuit. First he identified what this Ummah has

lost, and until the time that lost is found, the purpose cannot

be achieved. Iqbal expressed this in the words of Maulana Rum

which Maulana has mentioned in Diwan-e-Shams

Di Shaykh ba chiraag hume gasht girde shahar

Kaz deo dad maloolamo insaan am arzoo ast

Shaykh with a lantern wandering around the town

Tired of beasts he was looking around for humans

Shaykh means an intellectual scholar who was searching for

something with a lantern in daylight across the town. I am tired

of the beasts around me and looking around for a human

being.

Zin hamraahana sust anasir dilam girift

Sher-e-Khuda o Rustom e dastaan am arzoo ast

My heart tired of lazy elements around

Lion of God, Rustom are my desires

He at the same time was also saying that I am tired of these

lazy elements which are around me. So what is he looking for

with lantern? I am looking for a Lion of God and Rustom.

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Guftim ke yaaft mi na shavad juste in ma

Guft an ke yaaft mi na shavad an am arzoo ast

Adviced him you won’t be able find as we have tried a lot

replied what you could not find is my desire (to find)

We advised the intellectual that you cannot find what you are

looking for as we have already tried it but were unsuccessful.

He replied that what you are not able to find I am trying to find

the same and this is my desire as well.

What is Iqbal trying to say with this beginning? He is saying

that the one who is lost and have not been found I want to find

him. Iqbal accepted a big challenge which very few do. The

challenge was to find that which others are not able to find,

not because it is there but it is lost; because it is not present at

all. Iqbal challenged the world that not only I will find what is

not present, but instead I will prepare such human beings that

you will not need lanterns to search for them; they will be

found in every street and ally. You have seen in the Islamic

Revolution what Shaykh could not find with a lantern, those

human beings were present like a big crowd around Imam

Khomeini (r.a) and they have made hundreds of thousands of

graves in “Gulzar-e-Shohada”5 and their graves are giving

witness that they were those who were previously lost in an

Ummah; they were the ones possessing selfhood (Khudi) and

such kind of humans when an Ummah finds, then that Ummah

has got everything.

5 “Gulzar-e-Shohada” literally means Garden of Martyrs are the graveyards in different cities of Iran where the martyrs of Islamic Revolution and eight years sacred defense are buried.

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Rumooz-e-Bekhoodi – Development of Ummah

Now, he addresses the Ummah in “Rumooz-e-Bekhoodi”

(Mysteries of selfnessness). This is the second pillar of

development of Ummah

Ay Tu ra Haqq khatame Aqwam Kard

Bar Tu har Aagaz ra Anjaam kard

You, who were made by God to be the Seal of all people

dwelling upon earth

for you have been made the end for every beginning

Iqbal says your ancients were Prophets and just like there was

a seal of Prophets (on Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s) where

Prophethood ended and similarly you the followers of Prophet

(s.a.w.s) are also the seal of humanity.

Ay Misaal e Ambiya paakan tu

Hamgare dilha Jigar chaakan tu

You whose saints were Prophets with wounded hearts

wove into unity the souls of men;

Ay nazare bar husn tarsa zaadei

Ay Zira-e-Kaabe Dor Uftaadei

Why are your eyes attracted with the strange beauty of

Christian ways?

Why have you fallen so far away from the Holy Kaaba?

O that community whose eyes are glued towards West

(Christianity (Tarsa Zaadei). One Maulana (scholar) went to a

Western country and delivered ten days of lectures. After the

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lectures were over the Maulana did not leave the country,

whereas the culture there is different, people do not like

guests staying for so long. Few days passed, then weeks passed

and then several weeks passed but the Maulana was not taking

the name to leave and go back. Then the hosts passed on a

message to him that you have family back home hence you

should return because they would be worried and afraid.

Maulana replied that you are right my children would be

worried about me, but my heart does not like that I should

leave this nation of Prophet Isa (Jesus) and this community has

white skin, and also they wear limited dress without doing any

extravagance, and if there is summer they prefer not to even

wear something. Iqbal is referring to the same point that

everyone today are fond of West from scholars to ordinary

person; the Qiblah is West for everyone today. They all desire

to somehow get the Visa for West and specifically going to

America they consider as divine ascension (Me’raj).

Ay Falak Mushte Gubaare Kuye tu

Ay Tamashagaahe Aalam ruye tu

You are the nation for which the skies are street’s dust

you are that nation for which entire universe should come to

see you

Humche Mauj Aatish ta pa mirawi

Tu Kuja bahre tamasha mirawi

You are that nation towards him others should rush with

restlessness

But you are running like storm tossed wave towards others

(West)?

53 | P a g e

Ramz sooz Aamuz az parwanaee

Dar sharar tameer kun Kashanaee

Learn the mystery of burning from the moth

Build your residence in the burning flame

Tarhe Ishq Andaz Andar Jaane Kheesh

Taaza Kun ba Mustafa Payman Khwaish

Lay a new covenant of loves in your own soul

Refresh your pledge and covenant with Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s)

Khaatiram az sohbate tarsa girift

Ta naqabe rooye tu baala girift

I became tired of Christian (West) company

When suddenly your beauty stood unveiled

Humnawa az jalwaye Agyaar guft

Daastan Gesoo wa rukhsar guft

My companions narrated stories about them

stories of long hair and soft cheeks

Iqbal says when I was in India (which means the land of water

and dust), I heard a lot of epilogues about West and my mouth

was also watering to go to Europe. I used to listen about the

stories about the soft cheeks and beautiful hair but when I

came to Europe I found out that it is worst then a pig’s tail.

Bar dare saaki jabeen farsude’oo

Kissaye Muzgazadaan Paymuye’oo

Against the cup bearer’s door

I rehearsed the stories of Magian’s

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Man shaheede tege aabroo’e tu’am

Khakam u aasoodayE kuye tu’am

Martyred by your dignity’s dagger

I am enthusiastic to rest like dust upon your street

Iqbal saying to himself that I am martyred by the dagger of

your dignity. I have come out to accept martyrdom for your

sake. I am weak like dust in front of you.

Az Sataaish Gustari bala taram

Peeshe har diwan furoo neayad saram

Too proud I am to mouth based eulogistic oration

or to bow my firm head to every tyrant’s court

Az Sukhan aaine saaz hum karda an

Waz sikandar beniyaazam Karde an

I am trained to fashion mirror out of words

I am needless of Alexandra’s magic glass6

Baare ahsan bar na tabat gardanam

Dar Gulistan gunche gardad daamanam

My neck endures not men’s magic glass, men’s munificense

where roses bloom, I gather close my skirt of my soul’s bud

Sakht kusham misle khanjar dar Jahaan

Aabe khud migaram az sange giraan

6 Iqbal says I got that gem of existence that now I am needless of a big emperor like Alexander

55 | P a g e

I strive in this life hard as the iron in dagger

I get polished from the tough granite

Allama says that I went to the West and after the secrets of

their life and system I have become like a dagger. A dagger is

sharpened on a granite (stone). Stone is used to break the head

of man but the same stone if it gets a dagger it sharpens it

further.

Garche Bahram mauje man betaab neest

Bar kafe man kaasa’e girdaab neest

Though I am a sea but not restless like the waves

I do not hold in my hands a bowl of whirlpool (like the sea)

Pardaye rangam shamimi neestam

Sayde har maujee naseem neestam

A painted curtain am I, no blossom’s perfume-scattering

No prey to every morning breeze that blows.

He says I am not like the morning breeze which comes for a

while and then is blown away by other winds instead I am like

a painted curtain which is shook by the wind but is not moved

or scatters away. It is not that in the morning I am somewhere

and in the evening somewhere else. This is for a person who

has found is self hood (khudi)

Dar sharaar aabade hasti akh garam

Khal’ati bakhsar mar’a khakistaram

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I am a glowing coal within life’s fire

and wrapped in my own dust for a cloak7

Bar darad Jaanam niyaaz awarda ast

hadiya’e suzo gudaaz awarda ast

And now my soul comes suppliant to our door

bringing a gift of ardour passionate

Za asemane aab gul yam mi chikad

bar dile garmam damadam mi chikad

A mighty water out of heaven’s deep

Momently trickles my burning breast

Manze jubaar paaktar misazam ash

Tabe sahne gulshanad andazam ash

That which I channel narrower than dirty water stream

That I am many pass it into your garden’s dish

Zan ke tu mahboob yaare ma asti

hum chu dil andar kinaare ma asti

Because you are beloved by him I love

I fold you to me closely as my heart

Ishq ka tarhe fagaaan dar sine reekht madar

Aatishe U az dilam aaine reekht

7 Iqbal is saying what I am and from where i have found these secrets

57 | P a g e

Since love first made the chest as instrument of fierce

lamenting

by its flame my heart was molten to a mirror

Misle gul az ham shikafam seene ra

Peeshe tu aawizam in aina ra

Like a rose I pluck my chest apart

that I may hang this mirror in your sight

Ta nigaahi afakarin be ruhe kheest

Mi shawi zanjeeri gesu’e kheest

You should gaze on your own beauty

and you shall become a captive of your own falling hair (a sign

of beauty)

Baz Khunam kisse paarine’at

taaze saazam daagahe seene’at

I chant again the tale of long ago

to freshly warm the old wounds of heart

He is addressing the nation (Ummah) and telling that I am

triggering the same old tales of fourteen hundred years before

you so that I can again warm up the old wounds of your heart.

Az paye kaum ze khud na mahrami

khaastam az haq hayaate mohkami

So for a community which is isolated from its own soul

I invoked God that he might grant to concrete life

Now I am encountering that community which has lost itself.

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Dar sukoote neeme shab naalan budam

Aalam an dar khawaab wa man giryaan budam

In the deep silence of mid night I lamented loudly (for this

community)

When everyone was sleeping I was crying aloud (for this

community)

Jaanam az sabro Sukoon mahroom bood

Darde man Ya hayyo ya Qayyum bood

My soul deprived of patience and silence

my pain was the all living and Omnipotent God

Aarzoo-‘I daashtam khoon kardamish

Taaze raahe deede biroon kardamish

My yearning heart surged till its blood streamed my weeping

eyes

I freshly removed my desires and threw it out of the door

I also had worldly desires; I also wanted to acquire big degrees,

good job, and good position but for the sake of awakening this

community I wiped all my desires and threw them out of the

door.

Sukhtan chun laaleh paiham ta kuja

Az sahar daryooze shabnam ta kuja

Where is that Tulip (youth) which would burn itself

Where are those dewdrops that fall at dawn (on Tulip)

Ashqe khud bar kheesh mirizam ju shamm

Ba shabe yalda dar awizam jo shamm

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Melting like a candle throughout the night in my own tears

In the longest night I pour my flooding tears

Jalwe’ra afzoodamo khud kaastam

deegaran ra mahfili aarastam

I spent myself so that there might be more light

So that more loveliness, more joy for other men

Iqbal says what did I do? I burnt myself like a candle but gave

light to others. I have been enlightening others and

diminishing myself like a candle. I have sacrificed everything of

mine (my desires) and made a Pakistan for you.

Ek nafas fursat ze suze seene neest

hafte am sharmandaye aadine neest

Not for a single moment my chest stops from burning

Even Friday does not shame my restless week of unremitting

toil8

Jaanam an dar paikare farsoode

Jalwa aah ast gard aalude’ist

Wasted is now my spirit’s structure

my glowing sigh is sullied all with dust

Chun mara subhe azal haq aafareed

naale dar ab rishame oudam tapide

When God created me at time’s first dawn

a lamentation quivered on the strong of my melodious lute

8 Means even weekend makes no difference to me. I struggle with my passionate heart in the love of God non stop all the time.

60 | P a g e

Iqbal says when Allah created me, he created me like a flute

and at the time of creation of this flute, Allah has filled it up

with sighs and lamentations. These sighs and lamentations

which are found in me have been placed by Allah in my

existence.

Naale Afsha gare asrar-e-ishq

khoone bahaye hasrate guftar-e-ishq

And in that note lover’s secret stood revealed

the ransom price of the long sadness of the tale of love

Fitrate Aatish dahad khashaq ra

Shookihe parwaane bakshad khaak ra

When music even to the straw imparts the ardency of fire

and on dull clay bestows the daring of the reckless moth

Ishq ra daagi misaale laaleh bas

dar giraban ish gule yek naale bas

Love like the Tulip has one brand at heart

and on its bosom wears a singly rose

Man haminje gul bedastarad zanam

Mahshari bar khwaab sarsharad zanam

And so my solitary rose I pin upon your turban

and cry havoc loud against your drunken slumber

Taaze Khaakat laalezaar ayat padeed

az damad baade bahaar ayat padeed

Hoping yet Tulips may blossom from your earth anew

breathing the fragrance of the breeze of spring

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Iqbal says to his community that what I will do is to pin a rose

on your turban, then will cry and awaken you so that those

passionate youths longing for martyrdom (Laalezaar) are born

from your dust and from your soul the spring breeze starts to

flow; which means a Pakistan is created.

Difficulty of Ummah in vision of Iqbal

After this Iqbal expresses the difficulty of the Ummah which is

the lack of social sense and there is individuality in them.

Fard ra rabte Jam’aat Rahmat ast

Jauhare oora Kamal Az Millat ast

Mercy is the connection that binds the individual to the

society

His (individuals) truest self (gem of self) becomes the

perfection of society

Ta tawaani ba Jam’aat Yaar Baash

Raunake Hungamaye Ahraar baash

With full strength come in close rapport with the society

Become an enlightenment amongst the free born men

Iqbal says Individual is nothing and this was the fundamental

problem. The Ummah was scattered into individualism where

each individual is treading his own path. He expresses this in

details

Hirze Jaan Kun Gufta’e Khair-ul-bashar

Hast Shaitan Az Jam’aat door tar

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The best of men (Holy Prophet) gave a Talisman that

Satan distances from the place where there is congregation

(of believers)

Fardau kaum Aina’e yek diagran

Sil’ko gauhar kahkashano Akhtaran

The individual holds a different mirror for the community

and for the community an individual is jewel threaded on a

cord

Fard migirad ze millat ehtaram

Millat az afrad mibayad nizam

A star that in their constellation shines

from individuals like him a nation derives a system (of

governance)

A nation comes into existence with individuals. If individuals

are not there then an Ummah cannot exist. He expresses this

in details and then later he mentions about the way to become

an Ummah in which he says a nation comes up through a

Prophethood which means leadership. If leader is not there

than this herd of sheep cannot turn into an Ummah. Then after

this he expresses the fundamental elements of becoming an

Ummah in the same “Rumooz-e-Bekhudi” (Mysteries of

selfnessness) volume 4.

Dar Jahane Kaif o Kam gardid Aql

Pai be manzil burd az tauheed Aql

In this world of lust and desires the intellect wandered

then it found the pathway to its destination by faith in

Monotheism

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Warna in bechare manzil kuja ast

Kashti’e idrak ra sahil kuja ast

Else where is the destination for this helpless wanderer

else where could this reason’s ship find the shore

Ahle haqq ra ramze tauheed az bar’aast

Dar athan Rahman Abd Az muzmir ast

All monotheists know the secret of monotheism by their

heart which is hidden in sacred words

he comes to the merciful as slave 9

Taza Asrar to benumayid Tara

Imtihanish Az Aml Bayad Tara

May He (God) guide you towards his secret powers

Let the faith’s potency be tested in actions10

Deen az’oo, hikmat az’oo, A’aeen az’oo

Zoor az’oo, Kuwaat az’oo, Tamkeen az’oo

Religion from Him (God), wisdom from him, laws

(constitution) from him

9 When the believers in Allah (monotheist) know the secret of monotheism the first effect that comes on them is that they turn into a slave (Abd) of the merciful (Rahman). “Abd” means that stage where man believes by heart and demonstrates by actions that he does not possess anything of his own and everything is under the sovereignty of Allah. 10 Iqbal says that Allah will himself guide you towards his secrets (or secret powers) but only when the strength of your faith is tested in actions.

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Unfailing vigor from Him, power from him, authority from

him

Aalaman ra Jalwa’aish hairat dihad

Aashiqan ra bar aml kudrad dihad

Iqbal says if Tauheed (monotheism) comes up then every

group will recognize their reality that is when everyone

understands the true meaning and essence of monotheism.

Past andar saaya’e ash kard baland

Khaak Chun ikseer garddad jamand

The lowly in its shadow reached high

and the worthless dust of earth becomes precious alchemy

Kudrat’oo barguzide bande ra

Nau’e deegar aafrinad bande ra

His power selects the slave (Abd)

and creates another species inside him

Then after some couplets;

Millat-e-Baiza Tan’o Jaan La Ilaha

Saaz ma ra pardaye gardaan La ilaha

Soul and body of my nation is “No God but Allah”

the pitch that keeps the instrument in tune is “No God but

Allah”

Iqbal is saying the soul and body of the Muslim Ummah is “La

Ilaha Ilallah” (There is no God but Allah) which is not seen in

Pakistan today. The Pakistani’s have not learnt “La” (means

denial of other Gods that is Taghoots); they have only learnt

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“Ilah” (Gods). For them America, Britain, World Bank and all

others are Gods. They have not learnt that there is no God

other than Allah whereas the picture of Pakistan which Iqbal is

presenting is of “La Ilaha” that is denials of all other Gods first.

La Ilaha sarmaya e Asraar e ma

Rusht as Shiraza e Afkaar e ma

The slogan of “La Ilaha” is the very substance of my secrets

it is knotted thread of the waves of my scattered thoughts

Harfash az Lab chun ba dilayad humee

Zindagi ra kuwwate Afzaa’id humee

And when these words11 come on the lips

they reach the heart and give power to our lives

Naqshe’oo gar Sang girad dil shavad

Dil ra azyaazish nasoozad gil shavad

If this (La Ilaha) is engraved on stone it turns into a heart

and if it does not fall on the heart then heart turns into dust

Chun Dil az sooze gamish Afrookhtim

Khirmane Imkaan ze aahe sukhtim

When we flamed the heart in us with the passionate glow

we burnt the barn of all possibilities with a sigh

Aab dilaahe darmiyaan seene ha

Sooze u begudakhtiin Aaina’aha

11 The slogan of “La Ilaha Ilallah”

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Thus shining (of Tauheed) glittering in the hearts of men

it melted the steely mirrors with the faith present in heart

Sholaye aah Chun La ilaha Dar ragha’e ma

Neest gair az daaghe’oo Kaala’e ma

Whose flame is like a tulip (rising passion) in our veins

which left no mark on us other than its brand (Tauheed)

Aswad az Tauheed Ahmar mishawad

Kheeshe Faarookh wa Abuzar Mishawad

With this (faith) brand black men turned into red

turned into kinsmen like Farook and Abuzar

Dil maqaame khishgi o begangi’ist

Shauq ra masti zeham paimangi’ist

The heart is a place of dearness and selflessness

and enthusiasm quickens when the cup is shared

Millat az rangi’e Dilha’asti

Roshan az ek jalwe seena’asti

When several hearts put on a single color that is a nation

it enlightens and glows like the radiance on Sina 12

Kaum ra andisha’ha bayad yaki

Dar zameerish mud’aa bayad yaki

A nation is one where everyone has one thought

and their conscience pursues a single purpose

12 The manifestation of Tauheed in form of a fire seen on Mount Sina by Prophet Moosa

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Jazba’ye bayad dar harshat’ oo yaki

Hum ayad khoob wa zeesht’o yek

To one temperament they all move towards

one criteria for discriminating their good from bad

Gar nabashid Soze Haq dar saaze fikr

Neest mumkin in chunin andaaze fikr

Unless the instrument of thoughts has the fire of truth (God)

it’s impossible that the thoughts can become broad

Ma Musalaman’iam wa Aulade Khaleel

Az ayyakamgeer Agar Khwahi daleel

We Muslims are children of Ibrahim

If you seek proof then this is proven by your father (Ibrahim)

Ba watan wabastae taqdeer’e umam

Bar nisbat bunyaad tameer’e umam

Though nation’s destinies are controlled by homeland

worship

and they are building their structures on race

To tie knots of a nation on the basis of community is an

astonishing thing which we are doing.

Asl millat dar Watan deedan ke chi?

Baad o Aab o Gil parsatin ke chi?

What is this you say that nation (Ummah) is country

(homeland worship)?

Shall we worship the air, water and land (present in country)?

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Iqbal refers to Husain Ahmed Deoband who said that an

Ummah is nothing but homeland worship. What are you

saying? We should develop a country identity for an Ummah

like he is Irani, Indian, Afghani, Arab and Ajam? You want to lay

the foundations of an Ummah on country (homeland) which

means what? What is a country? Should we worship the land,

water and air of the country? This is not correct Iqbal is saying

your diety is only Allah.

Bar nasab naazan shudan naadani ast

Hukme oo Andar tan wa tan faani ast

It is dull ignorance to put boast upon lineage

you consider your fate to be decided on body whereas the

body will perish

Millat’e ma ra asaase digar ast

In asaas andar dile ma muzmir ast

The foundation of my nation (Muslim Ummah) is something

different

and that foundation lies concealed within our hearts

Haazir’am u dil bagayab baste’im

Pas’e bande in’o aan raste’im

We are who are present now have bound our heart to Him

(god) who is unseen

and therefore we are delivered from the shackles of earth

(country)

This country or homeland worship cannot chain us because

this faith on the unseen God which is present in our hearts has

unshackled us from the chains of earthly things.

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Rishte in kaum misle Anjum ast

Chun nigah ham az nigahe ma gum ast

The cord that links this community is like the galaxy of stars

(which knits them in one place)

In the sight of nation the sight of mine (individual) gets lost

Teere Khush parkane yek Kesheeme ma

Yek Numa, yek been yek andeeshe ma

We are pointed arrows of one bow

one showing, one beholding, and one in thought

Mudda’e ma, ma’ale ma yek ast

Tarz wa andaz khayale ma yek ast

One is our goal and purpose, one is our state

one is our style and one is what we dream

Ma’az nemataha oo Ikhwan shudim

Yek zabaan wa yek dil wa yek jaan shudim

With your blessing we all have become brothers

we became of one speech, one spirit and one heart

This is Iqbal’s Pakistan and then after this there is a detailed

explanation about Iqbal’s vision for Pakistan.

One Iqbal in centuries

A person like Iqbal is not born every day. Hakim Sanaye

Gaznavi who lived some thousand years before Iqbal has a

couplet which fits Iqbal very well. Such personalities are not

repeated in this Ummah every other day.

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Sar bar’ar az gulshane tahqeeq da kuye deen

Kushtagane zinde’bedi anjuman dar anjuman

Lift your head and look with some research so that you can

see a galaxy

See galaxies inside galaxies of martyrs

Dar yeki saff kushtagaan binee be tegi chun Hussain

Dar digar saff khastagan binee de zahri chun Hassan

You will see (in these galaxy of martyrs) one group that has

been martyred with swords like Hussain

you will see one group that has been martyred with poison

like Hassan

Darde deen khud bul ajab, dard’ist ke andar wai chusham

chu shabi beemar bahtar gardi az gardan zadan

The pain for religion is a very strange pain; it is striking pain

from inside

It’s the pain that makes the sick forget all other sickness

Har kaasi ra rango guftari ke bedeedan raah ke rasad

Dard bayad umre soozo baayad gaamzad

Everyone does not develop or reaches this path of being

painful for religion

For this pain you need that pain which burns the entire life

and a fast treading heart

Saalha baayad ta yek sange aslize aaftab

laal gardad dar badakshaan aqeeqe dar Yemen

Maa ha bayad ta yek pambe daanize aab o

khaak shaahid ra hulle gardak ya shaheedi ra kafan

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It takes thousands of years for an original ordinary stone

under the sun to turn into an emerald and ruby of Yemen

It takes several months for a seed of cotton to turn into

thread

which then gets weaved into monotheists dress or the shroud

of a martyr

Rooz ha bayad ta yek musht e pash as pushte meek

zaahidi ra khirke gardad ya himari ra rasan

It needs several days for wool from sheep to turn into thread

which becomes the gown or rope of a pious

Umra bayad ta yek kudaki az tab

aalimi gardad nikooyash shairi shireen sukhan

It takes a long time for a small child’s innate nature to turn

into a beautiful scholar or a sweet tongue poet

Qarna’ha bayad ta az pushte aadam nutfe’yee

abul wafa’e kurd gardad ya owais an dar Qaran

It takes centuries for a drop of human sperm

to turn into Abul Wafa Kurd or Owais-e-Qarani

The pain for religion is a very strange pain (Dard) whereas

lectures (Dars) in religion is easy. If you develop the pain for

religion then you will forget all other diseases. This pain does

not enter every heart and not everyone can reach this stage of

being extremely painful for religion. This is because Allah does

not gives this pain to everyone except for the one who has

burnt his entire life and his heart is moving fast to reach this

stage. It takes thousands of years for an ordinary stone in

Yemen under the sun to turn into a ruby. A person cannot

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become Iqbal after listening to two lectures in Islamic

seminary. The way it takes centuries for a sperm of human

being to turn into some personality like Abul wafa Kurd or

Owais Qarani similarly it takes centuries for an Iqbal to come

into community.

Iqbal’s Pakistan and Current Pakistan

To some extent I have presented the Pakistan of Iqbal now let

us see in a taunting language how some have presented the

current Pakistan. There is couplet known to be from Sardar

Bahadur where he recited this couplet in the first parliament

of Pakistan as a member of Pakistan.

Ye raaz ab koi raaz nahi ahle chaman sab jaan gaye

Har shaakh pe ulloo bhaitha hai anjaam e gulistan kya hoga

This secret is no more a secret and everyone in the garden

knows well

that an owl (fool) is sitting on every branch so what would be

the end of this garden

This is the current Pakistan and someone transformed this

couplet by someone else in a better way

Is gulshan ki barbaadi ko bas ek hi ulloo kaafi tha

Har shaakh pe ulloo bhaitha hai anjaam e gulistan kya hoga

For the destruction of this garden only one owl was enough

but an owl (fool) is sitting on every branch so what would be

the end of this garden

One poet Khalid Javed has written

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Ye dharti aisi hai jis par har shay ka rang nirala hai

Maghrib se suraj chadta hai darya ulta bahta hai

Har aankho waala andha hai, har kaano wala bahra hai

Jo mukhlis hai jo saccha hai wo zahar pyala peeta hai

Jo khaeen hai jo Jhoota hai wo dekho sabse ooncha hai

Har na ahali meyaar bani har johre kaamil rota hai

Har shaakh pe ulloo bhaitha hai anjaam e gulistan kya hoga

This land (Pakistan) is such that every particle has a different

color

The sun rises from west and rivers flow in reverse direction

Everyone with eye is blind, everyone with ear is deaf

One who is sincere and truth drinks the cup of venom

One who is treacherous and liar he is the one highest

Every ineligibility became the standard whereas every perfect

gem is crying

an owl (fool) is sitting on every branch so what would be the

end of this garden

One tauntful poet Amirul Islam Hashmi describes about Iqbal’s

Pakistan and current Pakistan in one of his ode written few

years back by the title “Iqbal tere des ka kya haal suna’oon” (

Iqbal ! what should I narrate about the state your country? ).

He presented Iqbal’s own terminologies, examples, parables

and one by one he presents all those to Iqbal. The way Iqbal

complained and said the “O the morning breeze go and tell the

Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s) that his Ummah has lost their world and

religion both” ; similarly Amirul Islam gives this message to

Iqbal as to what is your visionary Pakistan now.

Dehkaan to mar khap Gaya Ab kisko Jaga’oon

Milta hai kahan Khosha’e gandum ke Jala’oon

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The farmer has passed away now whom should I awaken

I can’t find wheat anywhere which I should burn

Iqbal has said in his poem about awakening the poor people of

this land in which he says we should burn those farms which

could not produce wheat for the farmer. Amirul Islam is saying

now I cannot even find wheat in this country which I should

burn.

Shaheen ka gumbad-e-Shahi par basera

Gunjishk faromaya ko ab kisse lad’aoon

Iqbal tere des ka kya haal sun’aoon

The Falcon13 now resides on emperor’s domes (who should

have resided in mountains)

Whom should I make the weak sparrow to fight with

Iqbal! What should I narrate about the state of your country?

Shaheen ka Jahaan aaj Kargaz ka Jahaan hai

Milti hui Mala se Mujahid ki azaan hai

Maana ke sitaron ke bhi aage hai Jahaan aur

Shaheen me magar taqate parwaaz kaha hai

Iqbal tere des ka kya haal sunaaon

The world of Falcon is now the world of Vultures14

The Call for prayers (Azaan) of crusaders is now same as that

13 Falcon (Shaheen) is the terminology used by Iqbal for representing the youths whom Iqbal wanted to turn into Falcons and fly high. 14 Iqbal in one of his poems says “The flight for both are in the same world; but the world of Falcon is different from the world of vultures”. He says that both Falcon and Vultures are birds that live in the same world, but Falcon aims at flying high and in a passionate

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of Mullah15

I am aware that there is a world even beyond stars16

But the Falcon (of today) does not have the strength to fly

Iqbal! What should I narrate about the state of your country?

Makkari wa Ayyari wa Gaddari wa haijaan

Ab banta hai in chaar anasir se musalmaan

Qaari ise kahna to badhi hai baat yaaro

Isne to kabhi khol ke dekha nahi Quran

Iqbal tere des ka kya haal sunaaon

Deception, shrewdness, treachery and insaneness

are the four elements which constitutes a believer now

To term him as a rhythmic reciter of Quran is a big word

He has never even opened and seen the Quran17

Iqbal! What should I narrate about the state of your country

way attacks his preys where Vultures are only in pursuit of dead bodies whose flesh they eat. But today in Pakistan the Falcon and Vultures have both become same and living on waste of others. 15 In other poem of Iqbal, he says that there is one call for prayer (Azaan) but when the same call is given by the Mullah and a crusader the purpose is different. A Mullah calls people towards individualistic worship with this call whereas a Mujahid (Crusader) calls the nation towards establishing the Allah’s religion in the world. 16 In one of his poem Iqbal instigates his nation to look beyond the materialistic world and fly towards that world but today there is no Falcon who would fly beyond the materialistic world. 17 Iqbal says in one of his odes that you should not just be a reciter of Quran in fact your personality should be a speaking Quran but today in Pakistan for a Muslim to turn himself into a practical Quran is far fro thinking because no one even opens the Quran for reading.

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Bebaaki wa Haqq gui se ghabrata hai momin

Makkari wa roobai pe itrata hai momin

Jis rizq se parwaaz me kotahi ka darr hai

wo rizq bade shauq se ab khaata hai momin

Iqbal tere des ka kya haal sunaaon

A believer (today) is afraid of boldness and righteous words

He feels proud on deception and cunnigness

The food which makes his flight defective

A believer (today) enjoys eating that kind of food

Iqbal! What should I narrate about the state of your country?

Kirdaar ka guftar ka A’maal ka momin

Kael nahi aise kisi janjaal ka momin

Sarhad ka hai momin koi Bengal ka momin

Dhoondhne se bhi milta nahi Quran ka momin

Iqbal tere des ka kya haal sunaaon

Becoming by character and words, a believer

not prepared he is to get into such mess, a believer

A believer of border and some Bengal believer18

Even if we find we cannot find a Quranic believer

Iqbal! What should I narrate about the state of your country?

Har daadhi me tinka hai, hare ek aankh me shahteer

Momin ki nigaho se badalti nahi taqdeer

Tauheed ki talwaar se khali hai niyame

Ab zauqe Yaqeen se nahi katti koi zanjeer

Iqbal ter des ka kya haal suna’oon

18 This means communism

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Every beard has a straw, every eye has a splinter

A believer’s eye cannot change the destiny

the scabbards19 are empty from swords of monotheism

Now no chains are cut by the passion of certainty (of faith)

Iqbal! What should I narrate about the state of your country?

Dekhe to zara mahlo’n ke pardo’n ko uthakar

Shamsheer wa sina rakhi hai taaqo pe saja kar

Aate hai nazar masnad’e shahi pe rangeele

Taqdeer’e Umam so gayee Taa’oos per aakar

Iqbal tere des ka kya haal suna’oon

Just see behind the curtains of palaces

Swords and spears are kept as decorations on shelves

Lustful people are seen on the postion of rulers

Destiny of nation (Ummah) is sleeping on the throne (of

kings)

Iqbal! What should I narrate about the state of your country?

Marmar ki silo’n se koi bezaar nahi hai

Rahno ko haram me koi tayyar nahi hai

Kahne ko har ek shaqs musalman hai, lekin

Dekho to kahi naam ko kirdaar nahi hai

Iqbal tere des ka kya haal suna’oon

No one is tired from the pomp of marbles

No one is willing to stay in sacred places

For name sake everyone is Muslim, but

just see there is no character even for name sake

Iqbal! What should I narrate about the state of your country?

19 Scabbard is the sheath in which sword is kept

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Iqbal has a very good poem which starts from “Utho meri

dharti ke jawano ko jaga do” (Rise and awaken the youths of

my land) in which at the end He says that Allah tells the Angels

that I am tired and unhappy with these marble stones by which

my Haram (Holy Kaaba) is made, and you should make another

Haram of clay for me (Mai Nakhush hoo bezaar hoo marmar ki

silo se, mere liye mitti ka haram koi aur bana do”). But today

no one is tired and unhappy with the lavishness of Holy Kaaba

and in fact they go and kiss these marble stones there.

Mahmoodo’ ki Saff aaj Ayazo se pare hai

Jamhoor se sultaniye Jamhoor ware hai

thaame hue daaman hai yaha par jo khudi ka

Mar Mar ke Jiey hai kabhi jee jee ke mare hai

Iqbal tere des ka kya haal suna’on

Today the ranks of Kings and slaves are different

Rulers of democracy are far away from the masses

those who are holding the skirt of selfhood

they are living by dying and dying by living

Iqbal! What should I narrate about the state of your country?

Paida kabhi hoti thi sahar jiski azaan se

Us banda’e momin ko mai laa’oon kaha se

Wo sajde , zameen jisse laraz jaati thi yaaro

Ek baar tha , hum chooth gaye is baare gira se

Iqbal ter des ka kya haal suna’oon

A time was when his dawn would start with the call for prayer

Where should I now get that believing slave (of Allah)

Those prostrations which shook the land at that time

It turned into a burden from which we are free now

Iqbal! What should I narrate about the state of your country?

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The hopeful Iqbal

Even after the state of Pakistan which is there today, but still if

you go back Iqbal was not hopeless from this community. The

way Bani Israel turned out to be deniers of Ibrahim; they were

inheritors of Ibrahim but turned into assasinators of Prophets

and dacoits of the path of Ibrahim; the same way these

politicians and treacherors did it. Today the few categories of

people who are governing Pakistan; like the Politicians, feudal

lords, Mullah’s, Army Generals, Beauracrats and Capitalists are

the vultures who have captured Pakistan. These vultures who

live on corpses have come on the land of Falcons and chewing

the corpses. Iqbal was still not despaired and was hopeful from

Allah because Allah has promised in the Quran that if this

community does not become followers of Allah then Allah will

replace this community and bring someone else. This is what

happened in history also when Bani Israel did not realize the

worth of Ibrahim then Allah cursed and replaced that

community and made another community from them as

inheritors who came and raised the flag of monotheism (that

is Muslims). But even inside them today the traits of Bani Israel

are seen and it is Allah’s promise that even if you tread the

same path as that of Bani Israel then you will also get into the

situation as that of Bani Israel. Iqbal was attentive towards this

fact that what I am expressing today is for someone else.

Hence Iqbal in the beginning of the Mathnavi itself expressed

this meaning that the masses amongst whom I am living I am

not expecting anything from them today but I have

expectations in future that this garden will definitely flourish.

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Khugare man neest chasme hast o bood

Larze Bartan Kheezam az beeme namood

The existing system (existence) is not familiar with me (my

thoughts)

I rise trembling everyday to see if someone is out to listen to

me

Bam’am az Khawar raseedo shab shikast

Shabnam e Nau bar gule aalam nishast

From East my dawn arrived and routed night

a fresh dew settled on the rose of world

Intezaar e subh khizham mi kisham

Ay Khusha zartushtiyaan aatisham

I am waiting for those devotees who rise at dawn

how happy they will be who will worship the fire lit by me

Nagma’am Zakhme be pardaastam

Man nawa’e shayare farad hastam

I am that song which does not need any listener of its tune

I am voice of the poet of tomorrow

Iqbal says I am the poet for the next generation and not for

my own generation. Who are those who recognize such

people? Allah creates a new generation which recognize such

personalities.

Asre man daananda’e asraar neest

Yusuf e man bahre in baazar neest

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My era does not understand the secrets of my words

My Yusuf is not for this market

My assets were not for this market and my era does not

understand my assets. My Yusuf has no value in this market

and it is for the generations to come. Now we have to prove

that we are those devotees of dawn for whom Iqbal was

waiting. This generation has to prove that those who can

understand the thoughts of Iqbal are present. It would be a big

grace of Allah that he gives us opportunity to understand Iqbal

and the desire of Iqbal which was Imam Khomeini (r.a) and the

Islam-e-Naab (Pure Islam) which he presented.

May Allah turn Pakistan into the burning tulips and may it be

like what Iqbal desired. The thoughts of Iqbal which formed

the vision of Iqbal for Pakistan and which comprises of these

things; Selfhood of man, Selfhood of nation and Selfhood of

Islam. And God willing very soon these accursed foolish

people’s shadow would go away from Pakistan and this nation

will turn into that garden whose image was presented by Iqbal.

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Annexure

Allama Iqbal’s Sermon of 1930 in

Allahabad

I lead no party; I follow no leader. I have given the best part of my life to careful study of Islam, its law and polity, its culture, its history and its literature. This constant contact with the spirit of Islam, as it unfolds itself in time, has, I think, given me a kind of insight into the significance as a world fact. It is in the light of this insight, whatever its value, that while assuming that the Muslims of India are determined to remain true to the spirit of Islam, I propose, not to guide you in your decision, but to attempt the humbler task of bringing clearly to your consciousness the main principle which, in my opinion, should determine the general character of these decisions.

Islam and Nationalism

It cannot be denied that Islam, regarded as an ethical ideal plus a certain kind of polity – by which expression I mean a social structure regulated by a legal system and animated by a specific ethical ideal – has been the chief formative factor in the life-history of the Muslims of India. It has furnished those basic emotions and loyalties which gradually unify scattered individuals and groups, and finally transform them into a well-defined people, possessing a moral consciousness of their own. Indeed it is not exaggeration to say that India is perhaps the only country in the world where Islam, as a people-building force, has worked at its best. In India, as elsewhere, the structure of Islam as a society is almost entirely due to the working of Islam as a culture inspired by a specific ethical ideal.

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What I mean to say is that Muslim society, with its remarkable homogeneity and inner unity, has grown to be what it is, under the pressure of the laws and institutions associated with the culture of Islam...

Islam does not bifurcate the unity of man into an irreconcilable duality of spirit and matter. In Islam, God and the universe, spirit and matter, church and state, are organic to each other. Man is not the citizen of a profane world to be renounced in the interest of a world of spirit situated elsewhere. To Islam matter is spirit realizing itself in space and time...

... In the world of Islam, we have a universal polity whose fundamentals are believed to have been revealed, but whose structure, owing to our legists’ want of contact with the modern world, today stands in need of renewed power by adjustments. I do not know what will be the final fate of the national idea in the world of Islam. Whether Islam will assimilate and transform it, as it has before assimilated and transformed many ideas expressive of a different spirit, or allow a radical transformation of its own structure by the force of this idea, is hard to predict... At the present moment, the national idea is racializing the outlook of Muslims, and this is materially counteracting the humanizing work of Islam. And the growth of racial consciousness may mean the growth of standards different and even opposed to the standards of Islam.

... Do not think that the problem I am indicating is a purely theoretical one. It is a very living and practical problem calculated to affect the very fabric of Islam as a system of life and conduct. On a proper solution of it alone depends your future as a distinct cultural unit in India. Never in our history

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has Islam had to stand a greater trial than the one which confronts it today. It is open to a people to modify, reinterpret or reject the foundation principles of their social structure; but it is absolutely necessary for them to see clearly what they are doing before they undertake to try a fresh experiment...

Unity Through Harmony of Differences

What, then, is the problem and its implications? Is religion a private affair? Would you like to see Islam as a moral and political ideal, meeting the same fate in the world of Islam as Christianity has already met in Europe? Is it possible to retain Islam as an ethical ideal and to reject it as a polity, in favor of national polities in which the religious attitude is not permitted to play any part? This question becomes of special importance in India where the Muslims happen to be a minority.

The religious ideal of Islam, therefore, is organically related to the social order which it has created. The rejection of the one will eventually involve the rejection of the other. Therefore, the construction of a polity on national lines, if it means a displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity; is simply unthinkable to a Muslim. This is a matter which, at the present moment, directly concerns the Muslims of India. “Man,” says Renan, “is enslaved neither by his race, nor by his religion, nor by the course of rivers, nor by the direction of the mountain ranges. A great aggregation of men, sane of mind and warm of heart, creates a moral consciousness which is called a nation.” ...Experience, however, shows that the various caste units and religious units in India have shown no inclination to sink their respective individualities in a larger whole. Each group is intensely jealous of the collective existence. The formation of the kind of moral consciousness which constitutes the essence

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of a nation in Renan’s sense demands a price which the peoples of India are not prepared to pay.

The unity of an Indian nation, therefore, must be sought, not in the negation, but in the mutual harmony and cooperation of the many… It is on the discovery of Indian unity in this direction that the fate of India as well as of Asia really depends. India is Asia in miniature. Part of her people have cultural affinities with nations of the East, and part with nations in the middle and west of Asia. If an effective principle of cooperation is discovered in India, it will bring peace and mutual goodwill to this ancient land which has suffered so long, more because of her situation in historic space than because of any inherent incapacity of her people. And it will at the same time solve the entire political problem of Asia.

It is, however, painful to observe that our attempts to discover such a principle of internal harmony have so far failed. Why have they failed? Perhaps, we suspect each other’s intentions, and inwardly aim at dominating each other. Perhaps, in the higher interests of mutual cooperation, we cannot afford to part with the monopolies which circumstances have placed in our hands, and conceal our egoism under the cloak of a nationalism, outwardly simulating a large-hearted patriotism, but inwardly as narrow-minded as a caste or tribe. Perhaps, we are unwilling to recognize that each group has a right to free development according to its own cultural traditions.

But whatever may be the causes of our failure, I still feel hopeful. As far as I have been able to read the Muslim mind, I have no hesitation in declaring that, if the principle that the Indian Muslim is entitled to full and free development on the lines of his own culture and tradition in his own Indian

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homelands is recognized as the basis of a permanent communal settlement, he will be ready to stake his all for the freedom of India. The principle is not inspired by any feeling of narrow communalism.

There are communalism and communities. A community which is inspired by a feeling of ill-will towards other communities is low and ignoble. I entertain the highest respect for the customs, laws, religious and social institutions of other communities. Nay, it is my duty, according to the teaching of the Qur’an, even to defend their places of worship if need be. Yet I love the communal group which is the source of my life and behavior; and which has formed me what I am by giving me its religion, its literature, its thought, its culture and thereby recreating its whole past, as a living operative factor, in my present consciousness. Even the authors of the Nehru Report recognize the value of this higher aspect of communalism. While discussing the separation of Sind, they say, “... Without the fullest cultural autonomy - and communalism in its better aspect is culture – it will be difficult to create a harmonious nation.”

Muslim India within India

Communalism, is its higher aspect, then, is indispensable to the formation of a harmonious whole in a country like India. The units of Indian society are not territorial as in European countries. India is a continent of human groups belonging to different races, speaking different languages, and professing different religions. Their behavior is not at all determined by a common race consciousness. Even the Hindus do not form a homogenous group.

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The principle of European democracy cannot be applied to India without recognizing the fact of communal groups. The Muslim demand for the creation of a Muslim India within India is, therefore, perfectly justified. The resolution of the All-Parties Muslim Conference at Delhi is to my mind wholly inspired by this noble ideal of a harmonious whole which, instead of stifling the respective individualities of its component wholes, affords them changes of fully working out the possibilities that may be latent in them.

A Muslim State in the North-West

Personally, I would go further... I would like to see the Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India. The proposal was put forward before the Nehru Committee. They rejected it on the ground that, if carried into effect, it would give a very unwieldy state. This is true in so far as the area is concerned in point of population, the state contemplated by the proposal would be much smaller than some of the present Indian provinces. The exclusion of Ambala division, and perhaps of some districts where non-Muslims predominate, will make it less extensive and more Muslim in population... so that the exclusion suggested will enable this consolidated state to give a more effective protection to non-Muslim minorities within its area.

The idea need not alarm the Hindus or the British, India is the greatest Muslim country in the world. The life of Islam as cultural force in this living country very largely depends on its

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centralization in a specified territory... Possessing full opportunity of development within the body-politic of India, the North-West Indian Muslims will prove the best defenders of India against a foreign invasion, be that invasion one of the ideas or of the bayonets... The Muslim demand....is actuated by a genuine desire for free development, which is practically impossible under the type of unitary government contemplated by the nationalist Hindu politicians with a view to securing permanent communal dominance in the whole of India.

Nor should the Hindus fear that the creation of autonomous Muslim states will mean the introduction of a kind of religious rule in such states... I, therefore, demand the formation of a consolidated Muslim State in the best interests of India and Islam. For India, it means security and peace resulting from an internal balance of power; for Islam, an opportunity to rid itself of the stamp that Arabian imperialism was forced to give it, to mobilize its laws, its education, its culture, and to bring them into closer contact with its own original spirit and with the spirit of modern times.

Federal Idea

In view of India’s infinite variety in climates, races, languages, creeds and social systems, the creation of autonomous states based on the unity of language, race, history, religion and identity of economic interests, is the only possible way to secure a stable constitutional structure in India. The conception of federation underlying the Simon Report necessitates the abolition of the Central Legislative Assembly and makes it an Assembly of the Representatives of Federal

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States. It further demands a redistribution of territory on the lines which I have indicated...

Proper redistribution will make the question of joint and separate electorates automatically disappear from the constitutional controversy of India... The Hindu thinks that separate electorates are contrary to the spirit of true nationalism, because he understands the word ‘nation’ to mean a kind of universal amalgamation in which no communal entity ought to retain its private individuality. Such a state of things, however, does not exist. Nor is it desirable that it should exist. India is a land of racial and religious variety. Add to this the general economic inferiority of the Muslims... In such a country and in such circumstances, territorial electorates cannot secure adequate representation of all interests, and must inevitably lead to the creation of an oligarchy. The Muslims of India can have no objection to purely territorial electorates if provinces are demarcated so as to secure comparatively homogeneous communities, possessing linguistic, racial, cultural and religious unity.

... The Muslims demand federation because it is pre-eminently a solution of India’s most difficult problem, i.e. the communal problem. The Royal Commissioner’s view of federation....does not go beyond providing means of escape from the situation which the introduction of democracy in India has created for the British, and wholly disregards the communal problem by leaving it where it was.

... To my mind a unitary form of government is simply unthinkable in a self-governing India. What is called ‘residuary powers’ must be left entirely to self-governing states, the Central Federal State exercising only those powers which are

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expressly vested in it by the free consent of Federal States. I would never advise the Muslims of India to agree to a system, whether of British or of Indian origin, which virtually negatives the principle of true federation, or fails to recognize them as a distinct political entity.

... The [Simon] scheme appears to be aiming at a kind of understanding between Hindu India and British Imperialism - you perpetuate me in India, and in return, I give you a Hindu oligarchy to keep all other Indian communities in perpetual subjection. If, therefore, the British Indian provinces are not transformed into really autonomous states..., scheme of Indian federation will be interpreted only as a dexterous move on the part of British politicians to satisfy, without parting with any real power, all parties concerned; Muslims with the word ‘federation’; Hindus with a majority in the Center; and British imperialists....with the substance of real power.

... In view....of the participation of the Princes in the Indian Federation, we must now see our demand for representation in the British Indian Assembly in a new light. The questions is not one of the Muslim share in a British Indian Assembly, but one which relates to representation of British Indian Muslims in an All India Federal Assembly. Our demand for 33 per cent must now be taken as a demand for the same proportion in the All-India Federal Assembly, exclusive of the share allotted to the Muslim states entering the Federation.

... The discussion of the communal question in London has demonstrated, more clearly than ever, the essential disparity between the two great cultural units of India. Yet the Prime Minister of England apparently refuses to see that the problem of India is international. He is reported to have said that “his

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government would find it difficult to submit to parliament proposals for the maintenance of separate electorates, since joint electorates were much more in accordance with British democratic sentiment.” Obviously he does not see that the model of British democracy can not be of any use in a land of many nations; and that a system of separate electorates is only a poor substitute for a territorial solution of the problem...

To base a constitution on the concept of a homogeneous India, or to apply to India principles dictated by British democratic sentiments, is unwittingly to prepare her for a civil war. As far as I can see, there will be no peace in the country until the various peoples that constitute India are given opportunities of free self-development on modern lines, without abruptly breaking with their past.

No Muslim politician should be sensitive to the taunt embodied in that propaganda word ‘communalism’ – expressly devised to exploit what the Prime Minister calls British democratic sentiments, and to mislead England into assuming a state of things that does not really exist in India. Great interests are at stake. We are seventy millions [according to 1921 records: 71 millions or 23.2% of India’s population; 1931 records: 79 millions or 23.5% of population. Official records have consistently underestimated Muslim population. It was nearly thirty percent.], and far more homogeneous than any other people in India. Indeed, the Muslims of India are the only Indian people who can truly be described as a nation in the modern sense of the word. The Hindus, though ahead of us in almost all respects, have not yet been able to achieve the kind of homogeneity which is necessary for a nation, and which Islam has given you as a free gift. No doubt they are anxious to become a nation, but the process of becoming a nation is kind

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of travail, and in the case of Hindu India, involves a complete overhauling of her social structure. Nor should the Muslim leaders and politicians allow themselves to be carried away by the subtle but fallacious arguments that Turkey and Persia and other Muslim countries are progressing on national, i.e. territorial lines. The Muslims of India are differently situated.

The countries of Islam outside India are practically wholly Muslim in population. The minorities there belong, in the language of the Qur’an, to the ‘People of the Book’. There are no social barriers between Muslims and ‘the people of the Book’...

... If these demands are not agreed to, then a question of a very great and far-reaching importance will arise for the community. Then will arrive the moment for independent and concerted political action by the Muslims of India. If you are at all serious about your ideals and aspirations, you must be ready for such action...

Let me tell you frankly that, at the present moment, the Muslims of India are suffering from two evils. The first is the want of personalities…The community has failed to produce leaders. By leaders, I mean men who, by divine gift or experience, possess a keen perception of the spirit and destiny of Islam, along with an equally keen perception of the trend of modern history. Such men are really the driving forces of a people, but hey are God’s gift and cannot be made to order. The second evil from which the Muslims of India are suffering is that the community is fast losing what is called the herd instinct. This makes it possible for individuals and groups to start independent careers without contributing to the general thought and activity of the community. We are doing today in

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the domain of politics what we have been doing for centuries in the domain of religion... But diversity in political action, at a moment when concerted action is needed in the best interests of the very life of our people, may prove fatal... Leading Muslims of all shades of opinion will have to meet together, not to pass resolutions, but finally to decide the Muslim attitude and to show the path to tangible achievement...

... The present crisis in the history of India demands complete organization and unity of will and purpose in the Muslim community, both in your own interest as a community and in the interest of India as a whole... We have a duty towards Asia, especially Muslim Asia. And since seventy millions of Muslims in single country constitute a far more valuable asset to Islam than all the countries of Muslim Asia put together, we must look at the Indian problem, not only from the Muslim point of view, but also from the stand point of the Indian Muslim as such. Our duty towards Asia and India cannot be loyally performed without an organized will fixed on a definite purpose. In your own interest, as a political entity among other political entities of India, such an equipment is an absolute necessity...

In the near future our community may be called upon to adopt an independent line of action to cope with the present crisis. And an independent line of political action, in such a crisis, is possible only to a determined people, possessing a will focalized by a single purpose. ... Rise above sectional interests and private ambitions....Pass from matter to spirit. Matter is diversity; spirit is light, life and unity....one lesson I have learnt from the history of Muslims.

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At critical moments in their history, it is Islam that has saved Muslims and not vice versa. If today you focus your vision on Islam and seek inspiration from the ever vitalizing idea embodied in it, you will be only reassembling your scattered forces, regaining your lost integrity, and thereby saving yourself from total destruction.